Full text of "Granite state magazine"

^^^KOIVMM

REYNOLDS V ' . cTloN

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1

833 01746 6167

GENEALOGY
974.2
G766
"'.6

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2013

http://archive.org/details/granitestatemagav6manc

Granite State Magazine

An Illustrated Monthly Devoted to the His-
tory, Story, Scenery, Industry and
Interest of New Hampshire

Edited by GEORGE WALDO BROWNE

lios --//

VOLUME VI
iqio — ign

Manchester, N. H.

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING COMPANY

1911

v 698S65

S>SE ST" .

- ••.- jcJV^

Drawn by F. S. Church

FLOWERS OF MEMORY

Contente-lM- VI

PAGSS

Alaskan Gold (Poem). Winthrop Packard 164

Bales, George E. Gray Fairlee 85

Bass, Robert Perkins. A Staff Contributor 169

Battle of Bennington. Dr. William O. Stillman 21

Bean, Emory C. (Poem) Cloudland Faces 72

Brown, Hon/George H. A Staff Contributor 37

Browne, George Waldo

In Stage-Coach Days 177, 225, 265

Picturesque Land, The 201, 241

Sargeant, Frank W 165

Smith, Edward C. 166

Buckham, James (Poem). The Old Rifle 89

Burke, Dorris L. The Town Bill 161

Bush, Florence Louise (Poem). Love at Eventide 216

Character Sketches. Nestor of the Farms ... 1, 45, 125, 169, 233, 273

Childhood Days (Poem). Helen Merrill Choate 116

Choate, Helen Merrill (Poem). Childhood Days 116

Trysting Place (Poem). 176

Cilley, Gen. Joseph. John Scales, A. M 73, 117, 145, 2S1

Clark, Rev. Matthew. The Editor 113

Cloudland Faces (Poem). Emory C. Bean 72

Clock Tinker, The. Nestor of the Farms 233

Coureur du Bois. Nestor of the Farms 125

Contrasts in Geography. Marvin Dana 56

Colby, Fred Myron (Poem). Homesteads of New England . . 175

Country Doctor, The. Nestor of the Farms 45

Crown Point Road, The. Hon. Albin S. Burbank 129

Dana, Marvin. Contrasts in Geography 56

Douglas, Marion (Poem). Rev. Matthew Clark 113

Kagle in American History. Editor 35

Editor's Window 197, 237

Early Orford. Rev. Grant Powers 149

IV CONTEXTS

PACES

Early Posts and Post Riders. George Waldo Browne 177

Fairlee, Gray. New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company . . . 193

New Hampshire Railroads 81

Picturesque I .and, The 201, 241

Falkenbury, Francis E. The Open Road 144

Farrell, Gabriel, Jr. Capt. Samuel Morey and His Steam-Boat 193

Foss, Sam Walter (Poem). Work for Small Men 2SS

Foster, Herbert D. Stark's Independent Command at Benning-
ton '. . 5, 57

Frontier Heroine, A Rev. Grant Powers 55

Goshen, Sketch of. A. W. & W. R. Nelson 104

Views in 109

Heroic Incidents. G. W. Browne 197

Homesteads of New England (Poem). Fred Myron Colby .... 175

Hoyt, Martin W. Rambles in Whittier-Land 217,257

Hunter's Moon, The 35

In Stage-Coach Days. George Waldo Browne 177, 225, 265

Laconica. Prophet of the Pines 277

Love at Eventide (Poem). Florence L. Bush 216

Major John Moor. Hon. Albert Moor Spear 29

March of Liberty. Mrs, Henry Champion 197

Mexico. A New Englander 49

Morton, Nelson Glacier (Poem). The Silver Lining 192

My Uncle's Coonskin Coat. Stranger 185

Nelson, A. W. & W. R. Goshen 104

Nestor of the Farms. Character Sketches ... 1, 45, 125, 169, 233, 273

New Hampshire Fire Insurance Co. Gray Fairlee 81

"New Hampshire Railroads. Gray Fairlee 81

Old Leather Latch String (Poem) Opp. 80

Old Rifle (Poem), James Buckham . 89

Open Road, The (Poem). Francis P2. Falkenbury 144

Oxen, The (Poem). Anon 139

Picturesque Land, The. Gray Fairlee 201, 241

Post Rider, The. Nestor of the Farms 1

Powers, Rev. Grant. A Frontier Heroine 55

Early Orford 140

Prophecy, A 36

Prophet of the Pines. Laconica 277

CONTENTS V

v PACES

Puritan, The. Nestor of the Farms 165

Rambles in Whittier- Land. Martin W. Hoyt 217,257

Return of the Fleet 34

Roses and Thorns (Poem) 88

Sargeant, Frank W. G. Waldo Browne 165

Scales, John, A. M. Gen. John Cilley 73, 117, 145, 2S1

Scottish Thrift 36

Silver Lining, The (Poem). Nelson G. Morton 192

Smith, Edward C. G. Waldo Browne 166

Spear, Hon. Albert Moor. Major John Moor 29

Staff Contributor, A. Robert Perkins Bass 169

Stark's Independent Command at Bennington. Herbert D. Foster

... 5,57

Steamboat Built by Morey. Gabriel Farrell, Jr. 93

Stillman, Dr. William O. Battle of Bennington . 21

Stranger. My Uncle's Coonskin Coat 185

Sword of Bunker Hill (Poem). Anon 29

Symonds, Arthur G. West Hopkinton 211

Town Bill, The Dorris L. Burke 161

Trysting Place, The Helen Merrill Choate 176

Viking, The Nestor of the Farms 273

West Hopkinton. Arthur G. Symonds 211

Whittemore, Arthur G. Gray Fairlee 84

Work for Small Men. Sam Walter Foss 288

Young, Oscar L. Gray Fairiee 87

S5-A

^ J/J-.*

v4gfc . OVW'

'Ail g

liSi^^

Hist nf 3 lustrations'

PAGES

Alone , 241

Among the Hills. Photograph by S. E. Taylor 246

Bales, George E. (Portrait) Opp 84

Bass, Hon. Robert P. (Portrait) Opp 100

Homestead Opp 173

Battle of Bennington, Plan of • 25

Brown, Hon. George H. (Portrait) Opp 37

Captain's Well Drawn by Howard Pyle Opp 257

Catamount Tavern 28

Cilley, Gen. Jonathan P. (Portrait) Opp 73

Clark, Rev. Matthew (Portrait) Opp 113

Clock Tinker, The. Painting by Frank French ........ 234

Country Doctor, The. From Rogers' Statuary 46

Coureur du Pois. Drawn by Frederic Remington 125

Crosby, Uberto C. (Portrait) Opp 193

French, John C. (Portrait) Opp 193

French, Frank The Clock Tinker 234

Flowers of Memory Frontispiece

Goshen, Views in Congregational Church . . 110

Grange Hall 110

Rand's Pond 109

Sugar Camp Opp 108

Town House 108

Union Church '. . 109

Gow, A. C. Capt. Samuel Morey Opp 93

Engine Model Opp 97

Morey Homestead Opp 100

Orford and River Opp 101

Hills of New Hampshire. Photograph by S. E. Taylor .... 242

Knupp, Jacob (Portrait) * . . . Opp 49

McGregor Gun 89

Morey, Capt. Samuel Pen and Ink Sketch by A. C. Gow . Opp 93

Morey's Model Engine A. C. Gow Opp 97

V11I ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGES

Morey Homestead. A. C. Gow Opp 100

Mount Washington. Drawn by G. F. Frankenstein 244

My Uncle's Coonskin Coat. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng . Opp 185

Nancy's Rock. Painting by Isaac Sprague 242

Old Leather Latch String. Drawn by J. Warren Thyng . . Opp 80

Orford and Connecticut River. Drawn by A. C. Gow . . . Opp 101

Parting of the Waters, The 248

Plan, Battle of Bennington 25

Picturesque Land. From Oakes' White Mountain Scenery . . .

Gateway of the Notch. By Isaac Sprague 206

Mount Washington. By G. F. Frankenstein 244

Nancy's Rock. By Isaac Sprague 246

White Mountain Notch. By Isaac Sprague 204

White Mountain Range. By Isaac Sprague 202

Post Rider, The 2, 177

Puritan, The. From an Old Painting 165

Running Free Opp 109

Sargeant, Frank W. (Portrait) Opp 165, 193

Smith, Edward C. (Portrait) Opp 166

Stage Coach of 1818. From an Old Print Opp 225

Stage Coach of 1828 Opp 249

Stage Coach of 1842. From an Old Print Opp 265

Stark, Gen. John (Portrait) Opp 5

Straw, Ezekiel A. Opp 193

Thyng, J. Warren My Uncle's Coonskin Coat Opp 185

Old Leather Latch String Opp 80

Weston, James A. (Portrait) Opp 193

West Hopkinton. In the Past 212

Of the Present 214

New Mills 216

White Mountain Gateway. Painting by Isaac Sprague 206 o

Notch. Painted by Isaac Sprague 204

Range. Painted by Isaac Sprague 202

Whittier, John G. (Portrait) Opp 217

Land. (Two Views) ' * * . . Opp 221

Whittemore Arthur G. (Portrait) Opp 81

Young, Oscar L. (Portrait) Opp 85

CHARACTER. SKETCHES

No. VI
"THE POST^RIDER"

t 2 | 4

4 U 'j-.

£U**fc

| -gag ^

1 1

• m

w . .

i'»"~ --'-•'
* -•

£•■?

■s' ;

V N6

*) if

:■>*»

t '

4.14 , -*»;

"'*

Chara&er Sketches

"The Post-Kider "

^HE CURRENT of the years, like the tide of a
great river, carries on its surface many changes
4>£« ■'''Ml in the affairs of men. Customs that were com-
kl ^^-^^ jjj mon yesterday are forgotten to-day. This fact
relates more especially to civilized people. It is due to the
evolution of progress. Savages know very little of change
either in their manner of living or dying, simply because they
do not advance. The story of one generation may describe
the lives of many. History, if it were written of them, would
prove a dull tale

The carriers of the messages and news packages of a
people have always been invested with romantic interest, from
the tattooed runner of the Far East, carrying his missive in
a cleft stick, to the uniformed postman of our big cities, plodding
wearily along the paved walks of their routes, But of
greater interest than either class was the mounted post-rider,
who moved swiftly over hill and dale, from country home to
home. A more sightly or picturesque sight could not well be
imagined, as he swept over some elevated section of the high-
way where the wintry wind laughed with cutting scorn at his
reckless riding. With the graceful poise of an old cavalryman
he bestrode his gallant steed, its nostrils and flanks white with
the morning frost, while his tight- fitting jacket was buttoned
closely about his stalwart form, his fur cap pulled down
over his ears, half concealing his clear-cut, good-natured
countenance, and the flowing ends of his crimson scarf
streaming in the air like the pennons of a ship stemming a gale.

Add to this picture the blare of his bugle horn, the clouds

of snow-dust that ever and anon enveloped himself and steed.
with the expedant looks upon the faces of the watchers peer-
ing out of the windows along his course as he sped by. flinging
to one a letter and another a paper, calling back cheerily as he
disappeared like a spedre of the road :

"A piping morning! Snow to-morrow! Jones has heard
from his brother in South America. The bridge has gone
down at Boardman's Crossing."

No more varied or piduresque type of manhood could be
found than one of these post-riders, and the experiences of
any of them, spiced with the anecdotes of their acquaintances
and seasoned with the hardships of their long drives, would
fill a volume.

4&$ f

•

"" - „■-.- - .'- '

•

'. .

MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN STARK

park's Sintiepeniient Commanb at
Bennington

By Herbert D. Foster, with the Collaboration of Thomas W.

Streeter

N THE 18th of July, twelve days after the Amer-
icans abandoned Fort Ticonderoga, there was
laid before the General Court of New Hamp-
shire a vigorous appeal to aid "the defenceless inhabitants
on the frontier" of Vermont, who "are heartily disposed to
Defend their Liberties . . . and make a frontier for your
State with their own." "You will naturally understand
that when we cease to be a frontier your state must take
it," was the shrewd hint with which Ira Allen closed his
letter. Seldom has there been made a speech with clearer
vision and more immediate and lasting effect than was
made on that day by Speaker John Langdon. In four
ringing sentences, he put "At the service of the State"
his worldly goods of those days — "hard money," "plate,"
and "Tobago Rum." Then he added this prophecy:

"We can raise a brigade; and our friend Stark, who
so nobly sustained the honor of our arms at Bunker's Hill,
may safely be entrusted with the command, and we will
check Burgoyne."

With this pledge and prophecy, New Hampshire began
her share in the campaign which made Bennington and
Saratoga possible. On that same day the first part of the
prophecy was fulfilled by the election of John Stark as
Brigadier General. Before a month had passed, "our
friend Stark" had fulfilled the remainder; he had raised a
brigade, and he had "checked Burgoyne" at Bennington.

6 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

How the Battle of Bennington was won is an interest-
ing tale; but it has been told often and well, by the victors,
by the vanquished, by the critics of both, and finally by
the critics of one another. The object of this paper,
therefore, is not to describe the battle, but rather to show
how there came to be an American force at Bennington
capable of fighting any battle.

A score of the participants in the battle, and more
than a score of the participants in what we may venture to
call the campaign of Bennington, have left us fragments
of the story. These fragments, printed and unprinted,
have been collected by the writers of this article and put
together into a daily record from the pen of the partici-
pants — American, British, and German. These contestants
reveal, in their sequence, the actions and motives of both
parties in the struggle. Their combined daily record
sheds somewhat more of the white light of truth, or at
least the gray light of history, on the causes and results
of Stark's Independent Command, which proved such a
vital factor in the campaign. From the participants we
may hope to glean a clearer and therefore juster idea of
why the independent command was granted by New
Hampshire; second, how it enabled Stark to carry out the
sound strategy once planned by Schuyler, always approved
by Washington, and fortunately insisted upon by Stark and
the Vermont Council; and third, how it was regarded by
Stark's fellow soldiers and citizens, by the Continental
officers, and by Congress.

On the 1 8th of July, after John Langdon's speech,
New Hampshire, under extraordinary circumstances took
unusual action which gave rise to much discussion and
criticism. The General Court appointed ''the Hon ble Wil-
liam Whipple Esq." and "the Hon bl John Stark Esq."
Brigadier Generals, and voted "that the said Brigadier
Generals be always amenable for their conduct to the Gen-
eral Court or Committee of Safety for the time being."
It is the omission that is significant: Stark was not made

STARK S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 7

"amenable" to Congress, to the officers of the Continental
Army, or to continental regulations.

The reasons which led New Hampshire to give Stark
this independent command are set forth clearly in an
unpublished letter of Josiah Bartlett, written a month
after the battle was fought. Bartlett was a member of the
General Court which appointed Stark, and of the New
Hampshire Committee of Safety which gave him his
instructions; and after the Battle of Bennington, he was
sent to advise Stark. Bartlett was also a Colonel in the
New Hampshire militia, had twice represented his state in
Congress, and later was to serve her as a Chief Justice
and as Governor. Because of his intimate knowledge of
state affairs, his wide experience, and his sound judgment,
the following opinions are entitled to unusual confidence.

"I am much Surprized to hear the uneasiness Ex-
pressed by the Congress at the orders given him, [Stark] by
this state; I think it must be owing to their not Knowing
our Situation at that time. The Enemy appeared to be
moving down to our frontiers and no man to oppose them
but the militia and Col. Warners Regiment not Exceeding
150 men, and it was impossible to raise the militia to be
under the Command of Gen ls in whom they had no Confi-
dence, and who might immediately call them to the South-
ward and leave their wives and families a prey to the
enemy: and had Gen 1 Starks gone to Stillwater agreable
to orders; there would have been none to oppose Col
Baum in carrying Gen 1 Burgoine's orders into Execution:
No State wishes more Earnestly to keep up the union than
New Hampshire, but Surely Every State has a right to
raise their militia for their own Defence against the Com-
mon Enemy and to put them under such Command as
they shall think proper without giving just cause of uneasi-
ness to the Congress. As to the State giving such orders
to Gen 1 Starks, because he had not the rank he thought
himself entitled to, (which seems to be intimated) I can
assure you is without foundation and I believe never

8 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

entered the mind of any of the Committee of Safety who
gave the orders; however I hope by this time the Congress
are convinced of the upright intentions of the State and
the propriety of their conduct. ..."

No more convincing statement of the reasons for
granting the independent command could be given to-day.
The only query is: do the facts substantiate Bartlett's
statements as to the causes and results of the independ-
ent command?

The statement as to the lack of confidence in the
generals of the Northern Department is only too amply
substantiated. "The people are disgusted, disappointed and
alarmed," wrote the New York Council of Safety on the 27th
of July, to the New Hampshire Committee of Safety. To
General Putnam even more explicitly they wrote: "The
evacuation of Ticonderoga appears to the Council highly
reprehensible . . . absurd and probably criminal." "I
. . . agree with you," replied the Chairman of the New
Hampshire Committee, "that the loss of Ticonderoga, in
the manner it was left, has occasioned the loss of all confi-
dence, among the people in these parts, in the general offi-
cers of that department." The investigations by Con-
gress, the letters of Washington, John Adams, Samuel
Adams, Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., Van Cortlandt, and of
less known soldiers and civilians show that the distrust was
deep and widespread. Schuyler himself, the commander
of the Northern Department, finding himself at Fort
Edward "at the head of a handful of men — not above
fifteen hundred," and "the country in the deepest conster-
nation," wrote to Washington: "what could induce the
general officers to a step which has ruined our affairs in
this quarter, God only knows." The loss of confidence
was the more dangerous because known and reckoned on
by the enemy. Philip Skene, Burgoyne's Tory adviser,
wrote to Lord Dartmouth on the 15th of July: "The men
want confidence in their officers and their Off rs in their
men." "The King," says Walpole, "on receiving the

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 9

account of taking Ticonderoga, ran into the Queen's room
crying, 'I have beat them! beat all the Americans!'"

There may have been much prejudice and misunder-
standing involved in the distrust of the general officers,
and in the case of Schuyler there undoubtedly was, for he
has been amply vindicated as a brave and capable officer
accomplishing a thankless task under peculiarly difficult
circumstances. The distrust was, however, so widespread
and ineradicable, and the danger so pressing, that decisive
measures had to be adopted.

With Stark's acceptance of an independent command,
the situation changed at once. The enthusiasm was so
great that the rapidity of recruiting and enlisting seems
almost incredible. On the very day of Stark's appoint-
ment, Captain McConnell of Pembroke, a delegate to the
Assembly, "engaged" for the service. The next day, the
19th of August, he, and Captain Bradford of Amherst and
Captain Parker of New Ipswich, some sixty miles from
Exeter, had recruited three companies of 221 men. The
news swept up the Merrimack valley on Sunday the 20th
of July, through Hudson and Hollis, Londonderry and
Epsom, Loudon and Boscawen, to Salisbury, fifty-eight
miles distant from Exeter, where Ebenezer Webster,
father of Daniel Webster, raised his company of fifty-
four men.

"As soon as it was decided to raise volunteer com-
panies and place them under the command of Gen. Stark,
Col. Hutchins [delegate from Concord] mounted his horse,
and travelling all night with all possible haste, reached
Concord on Sabbath afternoon, before the close of public
service. Dismounting at the meeting-house door, he
walked up the aisle of the church while Mr. Walker was
preaching. Mr. Walker paused in his sermon, and said —
'Col. Hutchins, are you the bearer of any message?' 'Yes,'
replied the Colonel: 'Gen. Burgoyne, with his army, is on
his march to Albany. Gen. Stark has offered to take the
command of the New Hampshire men: and, if we all turn

10 stark's command at bennington

out, we can cut off Burgoyne's march.' Whereupon Rev,
Mr. Walker said — 'My hearers, those of you who are will-
ing to go, better leave at once.' At which word all the
men in the meeting-house rose and went out. Many
immediately enlisted. The whole night was spent in
preparation, and a company was ready to march next day."
There must have been many similar scenes on that Sun-
day of recruiting, for before it ended seven companies of
419 men were enlisted.

On the third day of recruiting, seven more companies,
numbering 390 men, volunteered under Captains from
Chester and Pelham in the southeast; from Lyndeboro;
and then, on the other side of the watershed, from
Rindge, from Walpole and from Charlestown, one hundred
and ten miles to the northwest on the Connecticut; and
from Plymouth nearly as for distant on the northern fron-
tier, -Five more companies numbering 252 men, enlisted
on the next day, the 22nd of July, under Captains from
Hopkinton, Gilmanton, and Sanbornton in the Merrimack
region, and from Gilsum and Chesterfield in the southwest
in the Connecticut basin. On the 23d of July, two com-
panies enlisted under Captains from Chesterfield in the
southwestern corner and from Hanover on the northwest-
ern frontier; and on the following day the last of the
twenty-five companies was recruited.

In these six days of recruiting, from the 19th to the
24th of July, 1,492 officers and men had enlisted to serve
under Stark, and many of them had already begun their
march to join him. The number of volunteers is the more
remarkable, if we remember that in the sparsely settled
state, with its scattered hamlets, most of them settled in
the last generation, there were only 15,436 polls, accord-
ing to the returns of that year. This would mean that
nearly one man in ten of a voting age volunteered. In
many of the towns more than ten per cent, of the
males over sixteen years old volunteered. In half a
dozen towns taken at random in different sections of

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 11

the state, there enlisted on an average over fifteen per
cent. In Chesterfield, out of 221 males over sixteen,
twenty-one volunteered, or 9% per cent.; in Hanover, 9.8
per cent.; in Concord, over ten per cent.; in Swanzey, 12
per cent.; in Candia, 25 per cent.; and in Salisbury under
Captain Ebenezer Webster, forty-one men volunteered, or
over 36 per cent, of the male population over sixteen years
old.

Three facts explain this almost incredible swiftness of
enlistment: first, the spreading of the news through the
return of the delegates from the three days' session at
Exeter; second, the payment of "advanced wages"; and
third, the eagerness to enlist under Stark. The people,
especially the militia, may have suggested such action and
consequently may have been expecting some such news;
this is at least a plausible hypothesis which makes intelli-
gible the rapid enlistment immediately on the return of the
representatives like Col. Hutchins of Concord, and Mat-
thew Patten of Bedford. There were nearly 1,500 men
like Thomas Mellen, who said: "I enlisted ... as soon as
I heard that Stark would accept the command of the state
troops." The militia knew that Stark and the State of
New Hampshire meant business, and they gave a business-
like response.

The promptness of enlistment is matched and doubt-
less aided by Stark's characteristic rapidity of movement.
On the 1 8th of July, Stark was appointed at Exeter. On
the 19th, he received from the Chairman of the Committee
of Safety, the following instructions;

"State of New Hampshire, Saturday, July 19 th , 1777.

To Brig* 1 Gen 1 Jn° Stark, — You are hereby required to
repair to Charlestown, N° 4, so as to be there by the 24 th —
Thursday next, to meet and confer with persons appointed
by the Convention of the State of Vermont relative to the
route of the Troops under your Command, their being
supplied with provisions, and future operations — and when

12 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

the troops are collected at N° 4, you are to take the Com-
mand of them and march into the State of Vermont, and
there act in conjunction with the Troops of that State, or
any other of the States, or of the United States, or sepa-
rately, as it shall appear Expedient to you for the protec-
tion of the People or the annoyance of the Enemy, and
from time to time as occasion shall require, send Intelli-
gence to the Gen 1 Assembly or Committee of Safety, of
your operations, and the manoeuvers of the Enemy.

M. WEARE."

While his Brigade was enlisting, Stark was crossing
the State to the appointed rendezvous at Charlestown on
the Connecticut River. He probably kept his appoint-
ment there on the 24th of July; on the 25th he was cer-
tainly at a point only two or three clays distant by post
from Manchester, Vermont, and other letters would indi-
cate that this point was Charlestown. On the 28th he
"forwarded 250 men to their relief," that is to the Vermont
militia at Manchester. On the 30th, he wrote from
Charlestown: "I sent another detachment of [f] this day."
For his swiftly gathering force, he had to provide ''Kettles
or utensils to cook our victuals as the Troops has not
brought any," cannon and their carriages, bullets, and even
"bullet moulds, as there is but one pair in town." As he
prepared to cross into Vermont, he thoughtfully asked the
New Hampshire Committee for "Rum ... as there is
none of that article in them parts where we are a going."
By the 2d of August, two weeks after his appointment, "he
had sent off from No. 4, 700 men to join Colo. Warner at
Manchester," and intended to "follow them the next day
( . . . Sunday) with 300 more; and had ordered the
remainder to follow him as fast as they came into No. 4"
[Charlestown]. His last recorded acts before leaving the
state were provisions for the physical and spiritual welfare
of his troops in letters from Charlestown on the 3d of
August to his "Chirurgeon," "Doc r Solomon Chase" of

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 13

Cornish, and to the Brigade Chaplain, "Rev. Mr. Hibbard
at Claremont," a graduate of Dartmouth in the class of
1772.

On the 6th of August, Stark was in the Green Moun-
tains at Bromley, near Peru, Vermont, sending back word
to Charlestown "to fix them cannon ... for your defence
. . . forward, with all convenient speed, all the rum and
sugar . . . get all the cannon from Walpole." Swiftly as
Stark and his brigade moved forward, he seems to have
forgotten nothing necessary for the troops at the front or
for those left behind to guard the stores. He was a ''good
provider" as well as a good fighter. The rum he secured
from his friends; the cannon he captured from the enemy.

On the 7th of August, he had crossed the Green
Mountains and joined Warner and General Lincoln at
Manchester near the western border of Vermont. In
twenty days Stark had more than fulfilled the first part of
Langdon's prophecy — he had not only raised a brigade, he
had also equipped his volunteers, and marched them across
two states. . Two days later, the 9th of August, he was at
Bennington, where within a week he was to realize the
remainder of Langdon's patriotic vision and ''check Bur-
goyne." It is not surprising that this characteristic swift-
ness and energy of Stark attracted volunteers and infused
hope and an entirely new spirit into the troops of all the
region.

The contrast with Burgoyne's slow progress made
Stark's rapidity seem the more striking. When Stark was
appointed at Exeter, Burgoyne was at "Skeensborough
House," on the present site of Whitehall, New York. By
the time Stark had crossed New Hampshire and mustered
his troops on the Connecticut River, Burgoyne had
marched only twenty-eight miles southward to Fort
Edward on the Hudson. While Stark was crossing Ver-
mont, and organizing his brigade at Manchester and Ben-
nington, Burgoyne and his army were delaying at Fort
Edward where they remained until the 14th of August.

14 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

It was two weeks before the British army, hampered by
the untiring efforts of Schuyler and by the difficulties of
transportation, were able to advance seven miles down the
Hudson to Fort Miller.

A clear understanding of the position of the combat-
ants on the 7th of August is necessary to comprehend the
later plans and movements. Of the American forces, on
the 7th of August, Stark was at Manchester, Vermont,
with Warner and Lincoln; Schuyler, who had been grad-
ually withdrawing southward before Burgoyne's slow
advance, had been since the 4th of August at Stillwater on
the Hudson, "about twenty miles west of Bennington."
The British forces were situated as follows: Burgoyne was
at Fort Edward, twenty-five to thirty miles north of
Schuyler; St. Leger, slowly moving down the Mohawk val-
ley to join Burgoyne, had been delayed by the siege of
Fort Stanwix, and on the 7th of August, the day after the
battle of Oriskany, demanded the surrender of the Fort
and received a sturdy refusal. Bearing in mind these posi-
tions of the four commanders on the 7th of August — Stark
at Manchester, Schuyler at Stillwater, Burgoyne at Fort
Edward, and St. Leger at Fort Stanwix — we are prepared
to discuss Schuyler's two different plans of campaign, and
the strategic value of Stark's independent command.

Schuyler, until the 4th of August had approved the
plan of retaining troops at Manchester or Bennington to
iall upon Burgoyne's rear. On the 15th of July he there-
fore sent reinforcements to Warner. Two days later, he
ordered the Massachusetts militia "to march to the relief
of Colo. Warner and put themselves under his command.
He is in the vicinity of Bennington." The 19th of July,
he urged the New Hampshire militia to "hasten your march
to join" Warner who "has intelligence that a considerable
body of the enemy will attempt to penetrate to Benning-
ton." On the 29th of July, Schuyler sent General Benja-
min Lincoln of Massachusestts "to take command on the
Grants." In his letter of this date to Warner, Schuyler

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 15

expressed his hopes that "the Body under General Stark
will be respectable"; and that General Lincoln . . . will
be able to make a powerful diversion." His letter of the
16th of July to Warner is worth quoting in full as a clear
exposition of Schuyler's original plan.

"Fort Edward, July 16, 1777.
To Colo Warner

Sir I am this moment informed by Capt Fitch that the
New Hampshire Militia are marching to join me. It is
not my intention, much as I am in want of troops, that
they should come hither as it would expose the country in
that quarter to the depredations of the Enemy: I there-
fore enclose you an order for them to join you if none
are arrived, you will send express for them. I hope when
they come you will be able, if not to attack the Enemy, at
least to advance so near as to bring off the well affected
and to secure the Malignants.
I am Sir

Your most hum: Serv

PH SCHUYLER"

Schuyler communicated this plan to Washington on
the 2 1 st and 22d of July and received the following
approval of his measures:

"You intimate the propriety of having a body of men
stationed somewhere about the Grants. The expediency
of such a measure appears to me evident; for it would cer-
tainly make General Burgoyne very circumspect in his
advances if it did not wholly prevent them. It would keep
him in continual anxiety for his rear . . . and would serve
many other valuable purposes."

Washington continued to urge the retention of troops
on the Vermont border, even after Schuyler abandoned the
plan. On the 16th of August, the very day when Stark's
victory at Bennington demonstrated the wisdom of the
advice of the Commander-in-Chief, Washington wrote to
Governor Clinton of New York:

16 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

"From some expressions in a letter, which I have
seen, written by General Lincoln to General Schuyler, I
am led to infer, it is in contemplation to unite all the
militia and continental troops in one body, and make an
opposition wholly in front. If this is really the intention,
I should think it a very ineligible plan. An enemy can
always act with more vigor and effect, when they have
nothing to apprehend for their flanks and rear, than when
they have. ... If a respectable body of men were to be
stationed on the Grants, it would undoubtedly have the
effects intimated above, would render it not a little difficult
for General Burgoyne to keep the necessary communica-
tion open; and they would frequently afford opportunities
of intercepting his convoys. . . . These reasons make it
clearly my opinion, that a sufficient body of militia should
always be reserved in a situation proper to answer these
purposes. If there should be mo r e collected, than is
requisite for this use, the surplusage may with propriety
be added to the main body of the army. I am not, how-
ever, so fully acquainted with every cicumstance, that
ought to be taken into consideration, as to pretend to do
anything more than to advise in the matter. Let those on
the spot determine and act as appears to them most
prudent."

Now it was exactly in accord with this sound and
repeated advice of Washington, and in pursuance of the
original plan of Schuyler himself, that Stark and the Ver-
mont Council of Safety, "those on the spot," proposed to
act. Schuyler, oh the other hand, abandoned this plan of
a flank attack, when he found the enemy pressing closer
upon the main body of his own army. He thereupon
ordered all the militia on the Vermont frontier to join him
at Stillwater on the Hudson. Consequently, when Stark
arrived at Manchester, Vermont, on the 7th of August, he
found that his own brigade had, without his knowledge,
been ordered to Stillwater and had begun their preparation
for the march.

stark's command at bennington 17

The first evidence of Schuyler's change of plan is on
the 3d of August, the day when St. Leger appeared before
Fort Stanwix or Schuyler. By that time, Schuyler was
aware in general of this approach of hostile troops from
the west down the Mohawk valley on his left flank. He
also keenly realized that Burgoyne was "making every
exertion to move down" the Hudson to attack the Amer-
ican center. Schuyler therefore on the 3d of August,
"the generals having unanimously advised" him, fell back
from Saratoga to Stillwater and on the next day called in
the militia stationed in Vermont, on his right flank. On
this 4th of August he wrote to Lincoln, who was then at
Manchester:

"In all probability he [Burgoyne] has left nothing at
Skenesborough, except what is so covered that it is not
probable that your moving that way without artillery would
give him any Alarm. I must desire you to march your
whole Force, except Warner's Regiment and join me with
all possible Dispatch."

Five days later, on the 9th of August, Schuyler asked
the Vermont militia also to join him, as Burgoyne's "whole
force is pointed this way" and as "there is no great prob-
ability that force will be sent your way until he shall have
taken possession of this City" [Albany]. Schuyler writing
from Albany was not well informed; he did not know that
on the very day he wrote this, Baum received his instruc-
tions from Burgoyne and started on his march toward Ben-
nington. Schuyler did not realize the effect of his own
wise policy of devastation and obstruction of the country
through which the British army had to pass. He was
deceived by Burgoyne's pretence of a movement down the
Hudson. He failed to put himself in Burgoyne's place
and see that the British, retarded by the obstacles in their
front and by the difficulty of getting stores from their
rear, would naturally attempt by a flank movement to cap-
ture the horses, cattle, and provisions at Bennington,
twenty-five miles away. It was "those on the spot," Stark

18 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

and the Vermont Council of Safety, who did realize both
the likelihood of such an expedition and the possibilities
of a counter-movement by the American militia stationed
at Bennington.

The critical period of the campaign preceding the bat-
tle of Bennington is the week from the 7th to the 13th of
August. In this week was decided the question whether
the militia should all march to Stillwater, according: to
Schuyler's new plan; or whether they should remain on
the Vermont border to execute the flank attack originally
planned by Schuyler and advocated by Washington, Stark,
and the Vermont Council. Within this week Stark arrived
at Manchester, assumed command of his brigade and
marched to Bennington; with the aid of the Vermont
Committee of Safety, he convinced Schuyler and Lincoln
that the militia should not march directly to Stillwater, but
should rather prepare for the attack on the enemy's flank;
therefore on the 13th of August, Stark was "on the spot"
and ready to begin this attack when Baum appeared
eighteen miles from Bennington. This question and its
settlement are manifestly of supreme importance. Yet
with all its importance the question of the plans and move-
ments of all three generals has never been set forth with
completeness in any one of the many accounts of the bat-
tle or the campaign. This can now be done in the light of
documents recently printed or discovered.

By the 12th of August Schuyler appears reconverted
to his original plan of attacking the enemy's flank
and rear. The following explanation of the change is
given in a sketch of Stark published the year of his death,
in Farmer and Moore's Collections. This sketch of Stark
was based on an account by Stark's son-in-law in
N. H. Patriot, May 15, 18 10, and on particulars given by
Stark's oldest son Caleb, who had been an adjutant in the
Northern army, and who after the battle had carried to his
father a message from General Gates.

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 19

"General Schuyler opened a correspondence with
Stark, and endeavored to prevail on him to come to the
Sprouts. The latter gave him a detail of his intended
operations, viz., to fall upon the rear of Burgoyne, to
harrass and cut off his supplies. General Schuyler
approved the plan and offered to furnish him with five or
six hundred men more to carry it into execution."

The correspondence substantiates this statement; and
indicates that Lincoln aided in bringing Stark and Schuyler
into agreement on the basis of the original plan of a flank
movement. From the 7th to the 10th of August, Lincoln
was with Stark at Manchester and Bennington and corre-
sponding with Schuyler. On the 12th, Lincoln was with
Schuyler at Stillwater and wrote to Washington: "I am to
return with the militia from the Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and the Grants, to the Northward, with a
design to fall into the rear of Burgoyne." On the 14th,
Lincoln wrote Stark from Half Moon, a few miles below
Stillwater: "Your favor of yesterday's date, per express, I
received on the road to this place. As the troops were not
on the march, I am glad you detained them in Bennington.
Our plan is adopted. I will bring with me camp kettles,
Axes, ammunition and flints . . . You will please ts meet
us, as proposed, on the morning of the 18th. If the
enemy shall have possession of that place, and in your
opinion it becomes improper for us to rendezvous there,
you will be so good as to appoint another, and advise me of
the place. ..."

Finally, the statements of the Patriot article of 1810,
and of Farmer and Moore's Sketch of 1822 are fully con-
firmed by the Trumbull Papers, published in 1902, and by
an unprinted letter discovered in the present investigation.
Schuyler transmitted to Lincoln on the 15th of August a
letter received from Stark and added this endorsement:
"You will see his determination and regulate yourself
accordingly." "Gen. Lincoln is moved this day, with
about 5 or 600 from our little army to fall in and co-oper-

20 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

ate with Starks," wrote Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., from
Albany, on the 17th of August.

This plan of attacking Burgoyne's rear and flank from
Vermont must have been discussed by Stark and Lincoln
when they were together between the 7th and 10th of
August. Schuyler's letters show that he reverted to this
original plan between the 9th and 12th of August. Now
this is just the time when Lincoln and Stark at Benning-
ton were corresponding with Schuyler, and when Lincoln
went in person from Stark to Schuyler. On the 12th of
August, then, while Schuyler and Lincoln were together at
Stillwater, Schuyler wrote to Warner a letter marked
"secret":

"A movement is intended from here with part of the
Army to fall in the enemy's rear. You will therefore
march your regiment and such of the militia and ranging
Companies as you can speedily collect to the Northern
part of the Cambridge District in this state where the
troops from hence will be there to join you, so as to be
there on the 18th at farthest."

This gives the details of the plan which, as we have
seen above, Lincoln communicated to Washington on the
same day and from the same place. Further details of the
same plan are given in Schuyler's letter of the following
day, the 13th of August, to Lincoln:

"You will please to take command of the Troops that
are now on the way from Bennington and march them to
the East Side of Hudson's River to the Northern parts of
Cambridge, where Col. Warner has orders to join you.
Should you on your arrival at that place find it practicable,
by coup de main, to make an Impression on any post the
Enemy may occupy, you will, if there is a prospect of suc-
cess, make the attempt."

To this same plan of a combined flank attack, Lincoln
evidently referred in his letter of the 14th of August,
quoted above, in which he wrote Stark:

( To be continued in the July number.)

Cfje battle of 2Jenmnston

By Dr. William 0. Stillman

The following extracts are taken from an address delivered by Dr.
Stillman before the New York Historical Association at its annual meet-
ing in the court house at Lake George, August 16, 1904. The parts
omitted consist mainly of his plea for a monument in New York state to
commemorate the battle. — Editor.

CO-DAY is the anniversary of an heroic battle of
the American Revolution, which marked the
turning point in that memorable contest which
has stood for so much in the annals of the world. For the
first time the untried and untrained settlers, fighting for
home and liberty, prevailed decisively against the veteran
legions of Europe. Hitherto this had been deemed an
impossibility. It is the conquering of such impossibilities
which always brings glory.

As the result of the bloody conflict on the banks of
the Walloomsac on that "memorable day," the Americans
captured according to the statement of General Stark,
their commander, in his report to General Gates, dated
August 22, 1777, seven hundred prisoners (including the
wounded) and counted two hundred and seven of enemy
dead on the field of battle. Stark stated his own losses to
have been "about forty wounded and thirty killed."

When we consider that Burgoyne gave one thousand
and fifty as the total British force engaged in this battle
under Cols. Baum and Brayman, and that the Americans
captured or killed over nine hundred men, and seized
several hundred muskets and all the British cannon, the
overwhelming character of the victory is apparent. Its
importance was, however, greater in its moral than in its
immediate physical effects.

Tl THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON

Lord George Germain, the British Minister in charge
of the war in the States, characterized Burgoyne's raid
toward Bennington as ''fatal" to the English and pro-
nounced it as "the cause of all the subsequent misfortunes."
General Burgoyne, in his review of the evidence produced at
at the inquiry before the House of Commons (see A State
of the Expedition from Canada, as laid before the House
of Commons, by Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, published
London, 1780, page 108) indignantly denies the force of
this charge, saying that in was "a common accident of war,
independent of any general action, unattended by any loss
that could affect the main strength of the army, and little
more than a miscarriage of a foraging party." He scouts
the idea that it could "have been fatal to a whole cam-
paign." General Burgoyne seems to have forgotten that
he had written to Lord George Germain, long before, a
letter marked "private," from his camp at Saratoga, under
date of August 20, 1777, in which he said, "In regard to
the affair of Saintcoick (Walloomsac), . . . Had I succeeded,
1 should have affected a junction with St. Leger, and been
now before Albany. . . . Had my instructions been fol-
lowed . . . success would probably have ensued, mis-
fortune would certainly have been avoided. I did not
think it prudent, in the present crisis, to mark these cir-
cumstances to the public so strongly as I do in confidence
to your Lordship." There is more to the same effect.

If this stroke of fortune brought consternation to the
English it brought hope and happiness to the Colonists.
"One more such stroke," said Washington when informed
of the defeat of the royalists, "and we shall have no great
cause for anxiety as to the future designs of Britain." In
writing Putnam he expressed the hope that New England
would rise and crush Burgoyne's entire army. It is a
curious instance of Washington's almost prophetic instinct
that he had been longing for just this sort of a misfortune
to seize the enemy, for on July 22, 1777, he had written to
General Schuyler: "Could we be so happy as to cut off

THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON 23

one of his (Burgoyne's) detachments, supposing it should
not exceed four, five or six hundred men, it would inspirit
the people and do away much of their present anxiety. In
such an event they would lose sight of past misfortunes,
fly to arms and afford every aid in their power."

The battle on the Walloomsac aroused a patriotic
furor throughout the states. Jefferson called it "the first
link in the chain of successes which issued in the surrender
at Saratoga."

Within three days General Schuyler wrote Stark:
"The signal victory you have gained, and the severe loss
the enemy have received, cannot fail of producing the
most salutary results." Within a week the bells were
ringing in Boston and Philadelphia, and the whole people
devoutly gave thanks for this interposition of Divine pro-
tection. St. Leger, the British general beleaguering Fort
Stanwix on the far off Mohawk, also heard of it, and in
spite of his bloody victory at Oriskany Creek, slunk off to
the St. Lawrence. His dream of conquest and of the
occupancy of Albany was ended. The gifted Baroness
Riedesel, in Burgoyne's camp wrote: "This unfortunate
event paralyzed at once our operations."

The effect of this great victory, on the Continental
soldiers, was marvelous. The brave and daring Vermont
troops, under Cols. Warner and Herrick, were emboldened
to attack the royalists at Lake George Landing, with the
result that the vessels were captured which might have
afforded Burgoyne's army escape to Canada. Recruits
began to flock to the Federal army on the upper Hudson.
The New England troops soon joined them. The British
depots of supplies of provisions were sought out and
raided. Gradually the condition of the king's army grew
more and more desperate. A thousand men lost at
Walloomsac reduced their forces from 7,000 to 6,000, and
the 4,000 Continental soldiers facing them was rapidly
increased under the benign influences of success to nearly
I7iOOO men (16,942 as given in General Gates' statement
of October 16, 1777).

24 THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON

It will thus be seen that the battle on the Walloomsac
was undoubtedly the turning point of British success in
America. It gave the prestige and caused the delay of a
month in Burgoyne's movements, which were necessary
to make Gates' army strong enough to resist him. It
made possible the great victory at Saratoga which deter-
mined the destinies of a continent and is ranked along
with Marathon and Hastings as one of the fifteen great
battles of the world.

The naming of battles goes largely, like the naming
of babies, by favor and accident. At the Bennington
anniversary on the year following the contest, the occur-
rence was referred to by the secretary of the celebration
as the "battle at Bennington," and it soon passed into his-
tory as such. Bennington was the nearest large settle-
ment and the plans for defense centered there. There
were no large towns near at hand in New York. Had a
celebration been held near the scene of the strife in this
state soon after this event, I doubt not it would have been
christened the Battle of Walloomsac," just as Oriskany
was named after the adjacent stream and Saratoga after
the village close to which that fight occurred. It is a
curious thing that neither Stark nor Burgoyne were accus-
tomed to refer to the battle as that of Bennington. Stark
several times characterized it, as I have indicated in the
title selected for this address, as the "battle at Walloom-
sac," and Burgoyne more than once has referred to it as the
"affair at Saint Coicks Mill," or plain "Saint Coicks,"
which was the spot where the first skirmish began and last
fight ended.

While New Hampshire furnished the commanding
general, the sagacious and brave Stark, and more than
half the troops, Massachusetts and Vermont divided the
remaining part not so very unequally between them. New
York furnished the battle field and a very considerable

THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON

sprinkling of men besides. It should be borne in mind
that every available man from that part of New York
State was with the main American army before Burgoyne.
Poor New York at this period was distracted. She was

tun

o w "S B . 5

f » rf

Bge

I_.J .

.^T*

being ground between the upper and nether millstones at
Saratoga and New York. King George III, on July 20,
1764, by royal decree had declared that what is now Ver-
mont was part of the Province of New York, Before that
it had been by common consent considered a part of New

26 THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON

Hampshire. From 1765 to 1777 there had been a most
bitter legal war, oftentimes threatening serious bloodshed,
between the people of this section and the authorities in
New York, who regarded the revolt against the King's
grant as unwarranted. It was a sadly mixed quarrel with
varying right and wrong on our part.*

On January 15, 1777, Vermont declared her independ-
ence and soon after adopted her present name, having first
chosen New Connecticut, which was soon abandoned.
She was therefore in a state of open rebellion against New
York, and had declared herself a fourteenth State, which
was not, however, as yet recognized by the other thirteen
of the United States.

In spite of this New York treated her with marked
consideration. Colonel Warner and his regiment of Ver-
monters, which were a regular part of the Continental
army, were ordered by General Schuyler, of New York, to
protect his home territory, in an order previous to July 14,
1777. On July 15, General Schuyler sent to Colonel
Warner an order for clothing for his troops in Vermont, of
which they were very much in need, and also $4,000 for
their pay, which was all he could spare from his depleted
treasury. On July 16, General Schuyler in writing Ira
Allen, Secretary of the Vermont Council of Safety,
stated that he had ordered Colonel Simmonds (who had
some 400 or 500 men under him) from Massachusetts to
his assistance. On the same date General Schuyler
wrote to Colonel Warner, "I am this moment informed
by Captain Fitch that the New Hampshire militia
are marching to join me. It is (not) my intention,
much as I am in want of troops, that they should come
hither, as it would expose the country in that quarter to
the depredations of the enemy. I therefore enclose you
an order for them to join you." Thus the gallant Stark,
whose name was even then a thing to conjure with, through

•See Vermont Grants, Vol. 5 of Granite State Magazine,

THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON 27

the generosity of New York's wise General, the noble
Philip Schuyler, came to the rescue of Vermont and saved
the day at Walloomsac. Local differences were forgotten
in the desire for the common good. Stark and Warner
soon after the battle joined the main continental army on
the Hudson, The services of Col. John Williams and his
party, from New York State, who offered their services to
Vermont at the time of the fight should not be forgotten.

I have ventured to devote some little attention to the
relation of New York to this famous battle, with an expla-
nation of conditions which should make clearer the impor-
tant part she played and the powerful forces which con-
trolled and limited her action. Her position has been at
times misunderstood if not misrepresented.

These were truly times which tried men's souls. The
territory involved in the war was honeycombed with
treachery and defection. A straw was liable to turn the
tide either way at this pivotal moment. If Baum had
retired on his reserves at the proper time it is doubtful
whether Stark's forces could have overcome the enemy
before Burgoyne had given reinforcements in force as
promised.

If Baum's expedition had been delayed two or three
days, Stark would in all probability have joined Schuyler
and success would have crowned the British efforts. If
Baum had pushed rapidly forward two days sooner, he
would have found the patriots unprepared, have secured his
provisions, and have completed his raid to Connecticut and
Albany with success. St. Leger would not have been
frightened off on the Mohawk, and Burgoyne would have
forced his victorious march to Albany as anticipated. The
destinies of a Continent were in the balance, and fortune
and chance were playing a desperate game. Conditions
were so bad that when the Vermont Council made its
appeal to New Hampshire for assistance there was a per-
ceptible chance of the entire state going over to the
royalists. The Vermont Council used these significant

THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON

words: "Our good disposition to defend ourselves and
make a frontier for your State with our own cannot be car-
ried into execution without your assistance. Should you
send immediate assistance we can help you, and should you
neglect till we are put to the necessity of taking protec-
tion '(from the King's government)' you readily know it is
in a moment out of our power to assist you." The die
would have been cast. Vermont would have been obliged
to have sworn allegiance to the English king or have been
given over as the spoils of war to plunder. Sections had
already accepted such protection.

Such was the condition of things when the battle on
the Walloomsac was fought. Truly great events turn on
small hinges. Shall we, the inheritors of the benefactions
of these auspicious happenings, refuse to erect a monu-
ment in gratitude and patriotism to mark the spot where
despotism in this favored land received a fatal blow and
liberty became for our valiant sires something more than a
hopeless dream.

m ?
tf

£g& '■ - -

-..: ,

ipip *

*ft

%£

Mi Ksm&& •= .

---^/

CATAMOUNT TAVERN

: •■■

The Knight of Derryfield

A Fugitive Paper by Hon. Albert Moore Spear, Great-great-
grandson of Major John Moor. Contributed by Mrs. Lina
Moore McKenny.

The following excellent article, reprinted from "The Journal of
American History," possesses especial interest to all descendants of the
first families in our state. — Editor.

He lay upon his dying bed,

His eyes were growing dim;
When with a feeble voice he called

His weeping son to him.

"Weep not, my boy," the veteran said,
"I bow to Heaven's high will;
But quickly from yon antlers bring
The sword of Bunker Hill."

The sword was brought; the soldier's eye

Lit with a sudden flame,
And as he grasped the ancient blade,

He murmnred Warren's name.

Then said, "My boy, I leave you gold,

But what is richer still,
I leave you, mark me, mark me now,

The sword of Bunker HilL

"Oh, keep that sword," — his accents broke —
A smile and he was dead;
But his withered hand still grasped the blade
Upon that dying bed.

The son remains, the sword remains,

Its glory growing still,
And twenty millions bless that sire

And the sword of Bunker Hill.

30 MAJOR JOHN MOOR

, ^Jr J C* IVING as we do, surrounded by a mighty civiliza-
tion, occupying mountain, valley, hill and plain
from sea to sea; traversing space with the speed
of the winds; spanning the oceans with the palaces of the
deep; sending messages with lightning; living amidst these
glories of the twentieth century and the splendor of its
opening days — little do we comprehend the sorrows and
the woes of the dark days when homes were the clearings
in the forest; sustenance the caprice of the season; music
the bay of the roaming beasts; safety the mercy of the
Indian's knife; hope the return of their patriotic brave.

It is of one who knew these hardships that I here
relate — Major John Moor, whose bravery in the American
Revolution won him promotion, and who as a captain in
many battles in the French and Indian War blazed the
path for civilization. The Moor family, of which Major
John was a member, migrated from Scotland to London-
derry, in the north of Ireland, about the year 1616. From
there they came to this country in 1718, and settled in
New Hampshire. The ''Town Papers of New Hampshire,"
volume 12, page 429, show that on June 21, 1722, John
Moor and one hundred and seventeen others were granted
a township which they had incorporated by the name of
Londonderry, in honor of the county in Ireland from which
they had emigrated. In religious belief they were Scotch
Presbyterians. The name was originally spelled Moor,
the letter e being omitted, but later generations adopted
the present spelling.

The first record of the name is of one Samuel Moor,
who married Deborah Butterfield and settled in Litchfield,
then called Naticott, New Hampshire. They had six chil-
dren, the second of whom was John. He was born Novem-
ber 28, 173 1. He married Margaret (Peggy) Goffe, and
settled in Manchester, New Hampshire, then called Derry-
field. The family of Deborah Butterfield, the mother of
our John Moor, came from a distinguished Norman family
that arrived in England in the twelfth century, the head of
the family being Robert de Buterville.

THE KNIGHT OF DERRYFIELD 31

During the French and Indian War, when Colonel
Johnson led 6,000 men against the French, New Hamp-
shire furnished 500, one company being under Captain John
Moor of Derryfield. On the twenty-sixth of August they
arrived at Fort Edward, where Colonel Blanchard, with a
regiment from New Hampshire, was left in charge of the
fort. After this came the Battle of Lake George, in which
the New England sharpshooters did valiant service. In the
French and Indian War he won a reputation for courage
and energy. After the conquest of Canada, he quietly
settled down upon his farm at Cohas Brook.

When the alarm came in 1775, Captain John Moor of
Derryfield led a company of forty-five men to Lexington,
Upon arriving there he found that the British had retired
into Boston. He marched to Cambridge, and on April
twenty-fourth was commissioned by the Massachusetts
Committee of Safety a captain in Stark's regiment.

John Moor's bravery at Bunker Hill makes him a hero
whose name should be illuminated on the rolls of Amer-
ican chivalry. It was he who, with a few New Hampshire
farmers, faced the Welsh Fusileers, the flower of the
British Army, and the famous regiment that had fought
with distinction at Minden, gaining the title of the "Prince
of Wales Regiment."

It was on the morning of June 17, 1775. The Amer-
ican Revolutionists were inviting the king's soldiers to a
test of arms, and, with the spectacular manceuvering of
the Old World military pageants, the British warrors, vet-
erans of many gallantly won battle-days, moved toward
the audacious Yankee farmers with the precision and cool-
ness of a dress parade, and with the confidence and fear-
lessness born of conflict with greater and more learned
enemies, the grenadiers and light infantry marching in
single file, twelve feet apart, the artillery advancing and
thundering as it advanced, while five battalions, moving
more slowly, approached the fence, breastwork, and
redoubt, forming an oblique line. The best troops of Eng-

32 MAJOR JOHN MOOR

land assailed the New Hampshire line, doubtless expect-
ing those half-armed provincials in home-spun clothes
would fly before the nodding plumes and burnished arms
of the light infantry and before the flashing bayonets and
tall caps of the grenadiers.

Behind the fence, upon which they had placed grass to
conceal themselves, lay, still as death, Captain John Moor
and his men from Amoskeag, New Hampshire.

Now and then came a challenging shot from the bril-
liant British pageant, singing over their heads and cutting
the boughs of the apple trees behind them.

Colonel Stark had planted a stake about eighty yards
from the wall and fence, and had given orders to his men
not to fire until the advancing line of the enemy should
reach the stake.

On came the Welsh Fusileers, haughty and defiant.
Still there came no response from the Yankee farmers.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The deadline had been crossed!
Like a storm of thunder and lightning and lead there
burst across their vision a mass of death-dealing flame, so
intense, so continuous, so staggering, that the flower of
England wavered, recoiled, and fell back repulsed.

Again and again they rallied to the attack, only to
again and again back fall blinded, wounded and depleted.
One by one the brave grenadiers and light infantry fell
before the Amoskeag farmers. One by one the gallant
officers staggered to the earth, until broken in heart the
living broke ranks and fled in dismay before the musketry
of the hunters from the New Hampshire forests.

And when the smoke had cleared, ninety-six lifeless
red-coats lay before the feet of Captain John Moor and
his daring patriots, and nearly every officer and aid of
General Howe lay wounded or dead. It is not too much
to assume that if the rest of the American lines had been
defended with equal success the entire British force would
have been driven from the hill or annihilated.

THE KNIGHT OF DERRYFIELD 33

When the dead were counted, after the battle-day at
Bunker Hill, Major McClary was among the lifeless, and
Captain John Moor was called to the rank of major. He
remained with the army for a few months, when the state
of his wife's health obliged him to return to his farm. In
the spring of 1777 Major Moor again enlisted among those
of Derryfield, and retired from the army in 1778, when he
removed to Norridgewock, at which place and North Anson,
Me., he passed the remainder of his life.

Goffe Moor, son of John Moor, was also at the Battle
of Bunker Hill, and was a drummer boy in his father's
company. He was also a member of Captain Thomas Mc-
Laughlin's company in Stark's regiment, in October, 1775.

An examination of the New Hampshire records dis-
closes that Major Moor was a man who stood well among
his neighbors as a civilian. I find that he filled nearly all
of the municipal and parish offices in the gift of his people
before he left New Hampshire. As to his career after he
came to Maine, I quote from "Allen's History of Norridge-
wock'': "In 1780, Major John Moor, who had been an
officer in the army, came to this place in his uniform with
epaulettes and insignia of rank, and excited considerable
attention by his dress and address. He had four sons, who
came with him. Having lost his wife, he married Mrs.
Eunice Weston (Eunice Farnsworth), the widow of Joseph
Weston, the first settler in Canaan. He was a man of
more than ordinary talents, was respected for his intelli-
gence and activity, and was a useful citizen. A financial
report of the town affairs, in 1791, was drawn up by him in
a correct and business-like manner, and remains (1849) in
the files of the town papers. When the militia in the
vicinity was reorganized, he was chosen colonel, and was
esteemed as an officer and gentleman. He was granted a
large lot, on which North Anson Village is now situated,
and died there in 1809."

Major Moor had no children from his second marriage.
The tenderness of Major Moor is a prominent feature of
the traditions concerning him.

Cfje ^tutor's; lEmboto

Cfte Return of tfte Jflect

The recent home-coming fleet, and its parade at Hamp-
ton Roads on Washington's birthday, marks the closing
scene of one of the most notable achievements in the
peaceful annals of the navy. The Congregationalism in
commenting upon the popular enthusiasm awakened by
this great pageant, says, aptly:

We are proud of the peaceful and peacemaking voyage and reassured
by demonstrated efficiency. For the admirals and captains who carried
their ships without mishap around the globe, for the sailors who did their
full duty on shipboard and raised the standard of respect for the charac-
ter of Americans on shore, we have only the warmest congratulations
aud good wishes. The long voyage has shown discipline and morale of a
high order aboard our ships. It has given valuable training in fleet
maneuvers and target practice. It has vindicated our shipbuilders. For-
eign observers believed it perilous to take such intricate machines so far
from the repair shops. Yet not a ship was docked in the whole forty-two
thousand miles, and the fleet's own artificers have taken care of all repairs.
We do not wonder that the President came to the review in a mood of
joyous congratulation, or that the nation feels itself honored by the fleet.
But at this moment of self-congratulation there are sobering thoughts.
We have warships, but no merchant marine. The ports that welcomed
the battleships seldom see an American flag. Our fleet was dependent all
through the voyage on foreign colliers. In war time, a voyage from
Hampton to Manila would be nearly impossible. Then, too, as President
Roosevelt told the men of the fleet, the last word of drill and gun prac-
tice has not yet been spoken. Efficiency must be continually increased.
Worst of all, there are divided counsels among those who are responsible
for the navy, and charges that the work of the yards is badly supervised
and done at an exorbitant cost. The American people want an efficient
and economical administration as well as effective fighting ships. We are
not in the least afraid that an effective navy will hasten the coming of war.
But we do fear that popular enthusiasm may condone official bickering,
waste and incapacity.

the editor's window 35

Cfje Counter's ^oon

This is a term applied to the luminary following the
lunations of the harvest moon. As it does in the earlier
period, the moon rises at the same hour for three or four
days, owing to the reduced angle made by its orbit with the
horizon. Coming when the crops have been harvested, and
there is greater leisure for the sportsman to pursue his
game, it has been given this name. v r * rvo r*> *-. —

A o3a865

Cfte Cagle in amertcam t?i£torp

Mr. George E. Foster, in his admirable work upon the
"Story of the Cherokee Bible," relates the following inter-
esting incidents regarding the first appearance of the
eagle in the history of our country, which happened over
half a century before that bird became our national
emblem:

It was in one of the mother towns, in 1730, that the Cherokees made
their first alliance with the English. It was brought about by one Alex-
ander Cumming, who had traveled extensively among the southern
Indians. Just how he won over the Indians to his project is misty his-
tory, but on the day when the Cherokees swore allegiance to Great
Britain, there was a mighty gathering of Cherokees in one of the mother
towns, and at last they seated Sir Alexander Cumming on a stump that
was well covered with fur, and then, with the same number of eagles'
tails as there are stripes to-day on the American flag, they began to stroke
Sir Alexander, and their singers sang about him from morning to night,
when all the warriors of the Cherokees bowed on their knees and declared
themselves to be dutiful subjects of King George, and called upon all that
was terrible and that they might become as no people, if they in any way
violated their promise of obedience.

Now this marching, and this stroking Sir Alexander Cumming with
those thirteen eagles' tails, I am convinced, was the first appearance 01
the American eagle in politics in America, notwithstanding the historians
*ay that it was not in 1730 but in 1785 that the American eagle became
our national emblem.

36 the editor's window

^cotttsift Cfjrift

Scotsmen are noted for their thriftiness, and a story
told by a Lancashire commercial traveler, who was up in
Aberdeen a few days ago, shows that the men beyond the
Tweed are still worthily upholding their reputation. The
traveller in question was asked by a prospective buyer to
subscribe to the prize fund for the local golf tournament.
He parted with five shillings, and as he was interested in
golf he remarked that he would like to be kept informed
of the progress of the tournament so that he could look
out for the result.

"Oh," said the customer as he picked up the five shil-
lings and placed it securely in his pocket, "ye needna dae
that. The tournament was held last Saturday." This was
rather a staggerer for the latest contributor to the prize
fund, but he retained curiosity enough to inquire who had
proved the happy winner. The guileless solicitor for sub-
scriptions was quite undaunted, however. "The winner?"
he said coyly. "Oh, just meselV

a Propfjecp

A day will come when a cannon will be exhibited in
public museums, just as an instrument of torture is now,
and people will be amazed that such a thing could ever
have been. A day will come when those two immense
groups, the United States of America and the United
States of Europe, will be seen placed in the presence of
each other, extending the hand of fellowship across the
ocean; — exchanging their produce, their commerce,
their industries, their arts, their genius, — clearing the
earth, peopling the desert, improving creation under the
eye of the Creator, and uniting, for the good of all, these
two irresistible and infinite powers, — the fraternity of men
and the power of God. — Victor Hugo, at the Peace Con-
gress at Paris in 1849.

GEORGK H. BROWN, Mayor of Lowell

$Sen of tfje Ifour

Hon. George H. Brown, Mayor of Lowell
By A Staff Contributor

URING the last twenty years many striking
changes have been enacted in different localities
regarding local government. So far has this been
carried in some sections that the battle-cry has become,
"No politics in municipal affairs." In too frequent
instances grievous wrongs have been perpetrated in the
name of party, until the great industrial body politic, silent
and inactive until awakened by some real or fancied oppres-
sion, rises in its might and crushes the giant octopus of
greed and graft. In every case of this kind, a leader,
usually from the rank and file of the force he represents,
comes to the front with the courage to meet the enemy
hand to hand and the personal magnetism to rally around
his standard the disaffected crowd. It is no ordinary man
who can do this, as it is no ordinary occasion that allures
him from other pursuits to fight for what he believes a prin-
ciple. He generally wins, for men of his stamina are born
to rule. Frequent examples of this kind are cited in the
West, where more is expected of a man than in the East.
But New England has her champions of human rights and
her men who have made their mark, and made it deep, in
cause of reform. One of the most notable careers of this
stamp is to be found in Lowell, Mass. Here the silent
majority began to find reason for unrest. Here, of a cer-
tainty, was found the man. Rather, the man found and
improved the opportunity.

Municipal affairs in the Spindle City were moving
along with the smoothness that comes from the well-oiled
machine. The general citizen saw nothing of a disturbing

38 MEN OF THE HOUR

nature and he paid his taxes, if they were high and climbed
yet higher, and went his way thoughtless of the morrow.
In the midst of this quiet, a man on the police force
suddenly sounded the alarm by declaring that fraud
and undue expenditure of money was going on all through
the city government. He even went another step and
declared himself the champion of the common people and
a candidate for the office of chief executive against the men
who were in control of the government, experienced in
political work, backed by the press and years of prestige.
He was an amateur in politics, and to-day, with the signal
victory that he won against such odds as must have dis-
couraged a less sanguine man, he denies that he is a poli-
tician. More than that, he lacked the financial backing
that is supposed to be all-potent in politics.

In place he had an issue, and the courage to fight for
that end, and the ability te carry out his purpose.

Little wonder, then, that the story of his success con-
tains many interesting features; that the history of this
man reads like a romance.

Mayor Brown was born in Waterville, Me., May 22,
1877. While he was still a youngster he came to Lowell.
He received all the schooling he has ever acquired in the
public schools of Lowell, and even during the time he was
attending the schools he peddled newspapers on the streets
of the city. Later he earned his living as a mill operative
and as a farmer. He became a member of Company M of
the Ninth Massachusetts Infantry, receiving an honorable
discharge, by reason of expiration of service, November
26, 1898.

He took the police examination, passed it with high
honors, and was slated for appointment to the police force,
when, in response to the call of President McKinley, ha
re-enlisted in the Twenty-Sixth Regiment, United States
Volunteers, and served for two years as duty sergeant in
the Philippine campaign. The history of the old Twenty-
Sixth relates that the regiment saw plenty of fighting dur-
ing the Philippine War. Sergeant Brown and his men had

HON. GEORGE H. BROWN 39

their own interesting experiences at the battle of Belan-
tang in Jaro, Panay Island. In charge of three squads of
men, Sergeant Brown was sent, on November 7, 1899, to
perform important work in the construction of a barricade.
They acquitted themselves with great credit, in spite of
the fact that the work was performed under heavy fire.
This incident showed the stamina of Brown and his com-
rades, and the results were of great value to the American
forces at that time.

Brown returned to Lowell and was appointed to the
police force in 1901. After serving for a time as patrol-
man, he was made a liquor inspector, and his two years'
service in that department gave him a splendid insight into
the manner in which the liquor laws had been administered
by the police and license commission. He was later
returned to duty as a regular patrolman, but secured leave
of absence November 5, 1908, to make the run for mayor
of the city.

The campaign that was fought from beginning to
finish was in keeping with the unique leader championing
what he sincerely believed to be the cause of the common
people. Morning, noon and night the young, fearless
advocate of good government met his enemies, speaking now
before the ward room door to a handful of surprised listen-
ers; then at the mill gate, as the crowd of busy workers
from the great hives of industry paused to hear his impas-
sioned words; anon in the big hall, addressing the aroused
mob that listened, first with curiosity, then with wonder,
to finally drink in every word with deep satisfaction.
Those who had at first looked upon the audacious actions of
the young man from the police force as a joke began soon
to realize that there was something serious about the case.
Old politicians, unused to such opposition, became alarmed.
Every means at their command, and these were many,
were resorted to that the new rival might be crushed.

Their efforts proved in vain. Given a man with a
cause, the courage of his convictions and the confidence of
his followers, and he rides on a tide that cannot be

.v^/1

40 * 7 * MEN OF THE HOUR

stemmed. George H. Brown has these three elements
and, it is needless to say, he won one of the fiercest con-
tested and most surprising political fights ever waged in
the Spindle City.

At the end of his first year at the head of the munici-
pal government, a candidate for re-election, it becomes per-
tinent to ask if he has kept the faith of his followers by
keeping his promises made in the heat and anxiety of the
campaign. His supporters unhesitatingly declare in vehe-
ment terms that he has. His rivals acknowledge that he
has come nearer to keeping his pledges than any of his
predecessors have dared to attempt. The last reply is
sufficient to prove his fidelity. In his great civic fight he
has shown the same determined purpose and undaunted
front that he displayed as soldier in the Philippines.

He first turned his attention to the board oi health,
believing there had been too much political favoritism in
this important part of city management. Though of the
same political faith, he removed those officials and placed
new men in charge of affairs, to the satisfaction of all but
those immediately concerned. Then he looked to the
license commission, whose work was so familiar to him.
He had already made his charges against that body, and
now he was ready to prove his statements. In spite of
the protests of that body, in defiance of along legal con-
test, he showed that he had the same moral courage after
election that he had before. Calmly, with unswerving
determination, he went forward in the path he had marked
out, and the city has come through the ordeal purer,
better and stronger for the year's trial.

Mayor Brown has another quality underneath his
stern, unswerving manner of dealing with the current
affairs that has endeared him to the masses and won for
him many ardent supporters. He has shown an unfailing
sympathy for those in unfortunate circumstances, an ever-
ready willingness to help raise up a needy brother or sister.
He is pre-eminently the friend of the laboring class, as he
is the staunch upholder of good government.

CHARACTEK SKETCHES

No. VII
"THE COUNTRY DOCTOIV'

From Rogers' Croup of Statuary

THE COUNTRY DOCTOR

'*%...

Character Sketches

VII

"The Country Doctor"

;^f^A|^g MCNG the old school of professional men r.o one
*^ y n'\^s^-' stands out wiih clearer outline than the country
> v -l " ^"tp y V doclor. His austerity was second only to the
y=£^b=l=li stern dignity of (he Orthodox parson, and his
iron rule was felt by all who came within his touch And at
sometime or other, in youth or old age, one and all felt that
touch. He was at the bedside of the new-born infant; he
was at the bedside of him who closed his eyes in that long
sleep which knows no awakening: he was the faithful guardian.
the keeper of the many secrets of all within the radius of a
day's hard drive.

His horse and chaise wereeasily distinguished at a distance.
for every one knew the color of the first and the style of
the second. With a serenity that no one in different walks
of life could ever hope to equal, he sat in his high-backed seat,
and with one elbow resting on his right knee, occasionally
jerking the reins by way of remembrance that he was at one
end, the docile old Dobbin knowing by long experience that
this meant nothing serious. Like us master the animal never
seemed in a hurry, but jogged along the country roads at a
moderate trot.

In the case depicted by our artist he has selected a charity
patient for the care of the man of medicine, but his weather-
beaten countenance displays the same concern, the same
anxiety it might show were the one treated a person of
means. He may have accumulated a goodly competence, for
his day, and most of his calling did so, but in his kindly
heart there was love and sincerity of purpose which lifted him

above the commercial line. He had a mission to follow, and
he did not fail to accomplish his work.

How well do we remember our family physician, his
dark-red horse that never seemed to get be\ond a certain jog
trot, even as its master never broke from that short- pace with
which he walked. The old silk hat, the broadcloth coat with
its long skirts, the red handkerchief about his neck, his evenly
trimmed whiskers, his white teeth that were the most marked
feature of his genial countenance, his sturdy figure, his deliber-
ate gait and erect form.

As he counted the pulse, looked at the coated tongue and
marked the state of the disease upon the countenance, he told
some pleasing incident or anecdote in his quaint, quiet way,
more helpful, perhaps, than his pills that he rolled out between
his fingers and cut up with his big, old-fashioned jack-knife.
Then there were the powders and drops, some dark, some
light, some harmless, some helpful it must have been, all to be
taken in regular order and at stated intervals. Fortunately our
memory does not run back to the days when bleeding was
the frequent remedy for almost every ailment.

His skill was mainly what he had obtained from his
practice and native good judgment, and there is no better
school than the school of experience, so we must acknowledge
that our country doctor was a physician of many virtues,
not the least among them being his inherited honesty. No
doubt there are doctors of to-day who have the skill to have
saved some that he lost, but people come and people go very
much as they did in those years. There comes the day and
the hour when more than mortal skill is required to save us
from the enveloping shadows of the other life.

JACOB KXUPP
Owner of San Marcial Plantation, Mexico

The Land of Promise
By A New Englander

y^'^HERE is a fascination in the mere utterance of the
' UN . word "travel," and with it we immediately asso-
^^^ ciate the wonders and beauties of a land far dis-
tant. Let that spot be ever so barren of even common-
place attractions, and the thought that it lies beyond our
reach causes us to encircle it with a halo of many colors
and mysteries. In this simple fact we see verified the
truth of the old saying, "Distance lends enchantment to
the view."

Thus those who seek the pleasures of new scenes
leave our own country to go abroad to satisfy their desires
for sight seeing, forgetting or ignoring the fact that we
have equal, and often superior, attractions nearer home.
How many of them realize that within three days' ride lies
a land with as foreign an atmosphere as is to be found in
Europe; a land richer in ruins than Egypt; a land with a
people more picturesque than any race of the Old World;
with a soil more bountiful than the Black Lands of Russia;
mineral resources greater than the output of the mines of
Golconda; a climate that will compare favorably with that
of the Paradise of the Pacific?

This is Mexico. Now you may exclaim at once that
we are — well, enthusiastic beyond reason, to put your
thoughts in as mild a form as is possible. That is, you
may say this if you have not been there. If you have, you
will understand the truth.

Tourists in Mexico are apt to look for the ancient and
antique, reveling in the romance of lost races, the downfall
of the greatest of American princes, Montezuma, the

50 MEXICO

conquest of that Spanish adventurer, Cortes, while they
descant upon the ruins of a civilization older and more
advanced it may be than those of the land of the pyramids,
unmindful of its living attractions, its present offerings.

There is good reason for this interest, as its historian
Prescott has truthfully said: "Of all that extensive empire
which once acknowledged the authority of Spain in the
New World, no portion for interest and importance can be
compared to Mexico; and this equally, whether we consider
the variety of its soil and climate; the inexhaustible stores
of its mineral wealth; its scenery, grand and picturesque
beyond example; or the character of its inhabitants." But
it is not ancient Mexico, with its ruins that surpass the
primitive civilization of Egypt or Hindustan; its romance
of conquest and adventure that outvie Norman tradition
or the chivalry of Italian bards, but its modern phases of
life and scenery, its variety of climate, its resources and its
modern people that interest us most.

As infrequently as it is mentioned, Mexico is to-day in
reality a progressive country. It has passed its eras of
conquests and revolutions, and entered that stage of .action
where union of sentiment and concentration of powers of
development are to be seen and felt. So, in the midst of
ruins and romance, there is a living example of a living
people, hoping, striving, vieing, one with another, in their
upbuilding.

A writer of the country, Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith,
not frequently given to rapture in his descriptions, declares
"It is a land of white sunshine, redolent with flowers; a
land of gay costumes, crumbling churches and old con-
vents; a land of kindly greetings, of extreme courtesy, of
open, broad hospitality. To revel in an Italian sun, light-
ing up a semi-tropical land; to look up to white-capped
peaks, towering into blue; to catch the sparkle of miniature
cities, jewelled here and there in oases of olive and orange
is to realize that Mexico is the most marvelously pictur-
esque country under the sun."

THE LAND OF PROMISE 51

It is impossible to describe the climate of Mexico or
its resources with the description of any single locality.
It has in reality three distinct grades or kinds, determined
by the altitude of that particular section or some local
influence. Those regions, six thousand feet above the
level of the sea, are known as the cold lands, though this
term must not be understood to correspond with our New
England cold. In fact, the mean temperature here does
not vary much from that of Spain. Below this belt, and
reaching down to about three thousand feet above sea
level, are the temperate lands, affording a most delightful
semi-tropical climate, where vegetation peculiar to this
clime flourishes in abundance. The third belt, coming
down to the level of the sea and narrower than either of
the others, is called the hot land Here a tropical
growth springs up in dense masses, overtopped with huge
trees that rise like lofty giants above the labyrinth
of thickets at their base.

Passing down through the country of Mexico by rail,
one comes to that ancient and historic city by the sea,
Vera Cruz. It was here that grizzled Spanish veteran of
conquest, Hernando Cortes, landed on April 21, 15 19, and,
burning his ships behind him, began that march of con-
quest, which ended only at Mexico, which was then the
capital of the Aztecs, as it became the seat of government
of their conqueror and his descendants. With a back-
ground of mysterious tradition, the history from that
eventful day to the present prosperous condition of the
United States of Mexico is one of the most interesting to
be found in the world. From the mists and clouds of war
rise some chivalrous figures, including such names as
Hidalgo, the father of Mexican independence; Jaurez, the
patriot of reform; Morelos, the parish priest, who did not
hesitate to resort to arms when the liberty of his country-
men was at stake; and others, to the present master of
good government, President Diaz.

To-day, Vera Cruz is again the port from which march
the legions of conquest, but the conquerors are the peace-

52 MEXICO

ful laborers of the landowners of this region, and the
conquest that of the tropical crops springing from the
fertile soil with each rolling season. A leader in this pro-
gressive movement is Mr. Jacob Knupp of Boston, Mass.,
who has become the owner of the old and exceedingly rich
plantation known as the San Marcial. This estate of about
4,333 acres is located on the east bank of the Tezechouan
River, about 9 miles by wagon road up the river from
Terez — the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad crossing of the
river about four miles from Isla railway station. This
tract fronts for a distance of about two miles on a navig-
able river, and has a fine steamboat landing. They have
no swamps, no high hills, every acre can be tilled, only a
few acres of this whole tract has been known to overflow,
perhaps for a day at a time of extreme high water, best of
transportation by river transportation, at all seasons of the
year to the Gulf of Alvardo, and by rail to the markets of
the world. The soil is a rich vegetable "humus" of inex-
haustible fertility, as shown by the tropical jungle now
covering the unimproved parts, while on the improved por-
tions crops can be seen growing at all seasons. Four crops
can be produced on the same ground a year. The rich
valley lands are especially adapted to the growth of all
tropical products such as vegetables, citrous fruits, pine-
apples, sugar cane, rubber, cocoanuts, peanuts, bananas,
broom corn, castor beans, watermelons, oranges, lemons,
etc., para grass and other fattening grasses, as well as
corn, and other grains.

There are 1,250 acres under cultivation and enclosed
with barbed wire fences, a fair-sized orchard of all tropical
fjuits; 400 acres is now producing corn, rice, tobacco,
beans, sugar cane, etc. Over 800 acres are in para grass
and native grass, grazing lands to pasture 100 head of cattle
the year around. The above goes to show that anything
planted and looked after will grow continuously, all good
money crops, with a ready market for all that is raised at
good prices. There are fifty tobacco barns for storing and

THE LAND OF PROMISE 53

curing the crops, about 60 laborers' houses, very comfort-
able "Hacienda" buildings for manager's residence, stables,
corrals and other needed buildings. There are enough
natives on land to furnish all the labor required. Wages
run from 50 cents to $1.00 (silver Mexican money).

Sugar cane will yield at least $50 per acre net in the
field. It can be sold, the same as fruit crops in the North,
in the orchard. Tobacco will yield 500 pounds per acre,
25 cents per pound, or $125 per acre, net $75 per acre.
Rice, 1,250 pounds per acre, retail 8 cents per pound, $100
per acre, net $50 per acre. Castor beans, 1,250 pounds
per acre, 5 cents per pound, $62.50 per acre net; and other
crops bring revenues in like proportion and larger returns
and four crops a year. The above are the lowest net prices
and can be depended upon as low figures. No irrigation
is needed, which makes any of this improved cleared land
worth as much as land that requires irrigation and is
valued at $300 to $1,000 per acre, and the land in Mexico
will produce equally as good crops. Net present revenues
on plantation, $15,000 per year, and can be doubled by
proper management.

For an investment of $250, Mr. Knupp is offering ten
acres of good, productive land from the unimproved part
of the San Marcial plantation, where there is ample rain-
fall, no droughts, no irrigation required, no frosts, a health-
ful and equable climate, a locality destined to be known in
the near future as "The Tropical Garden of the World."
These ten-acre tracts are properly surveyed and numbered
from 1 to 200, making a total of 2,000 acres.

Within easy reach of a good market, only a short dis-
tance from the railroad, with a soil that is not only capable
of producing four crops a year, but is actually better to be
kept in constant cultivation than to allow the rank weed
crop to take possession half of the time, the above state-
ment is no dream.

The investment can be bought on the instalment plan,
by paying $25 down and the balance in monthly payments,

•:■■

54 MEXICO

or all cash, in either event if person or investor desires to
make a contract for the improving of any io-acre tract for
a period of 3 years or more, it is agreed that we will take
charge of same and guarantee 25 per cent net profit on the
investment pro rata on each acre, put in cultivation and
crop, or, in other words, agree to pay about 25 per cent
net on each acre as said acre is productive; party to reserve
the right at any time after first year's crop to take full
charge of said land and operate same by any arrangements
he may desire to make, it being understood, however, that in
three years' time the entire tract so purchased be placed
in cultivation and in crop, and bringing a revenue equal to
25 per cent or more net on the $250 investment, if left in
our control.

A 10-year 5 per cent bond will be delivered on the
payment of $250, which is secured by deed of trust of the
improved part of the plantation; also on improved income
property in Massachusetts, which is exchangeable on or
before one year for 10 acres of land as outlined, and a con-
tract made on the payment of part or all cash. At any
time 5 investors of $250 each desire to select one party to
inspect the land and select their 10 acres, one free round
trip ticket is given to the party selected. The bond is
issued to protect the investor against any loss for his
investment, till such time as the land is surveyed off,
inspected and selected by the investor or his repre-
sentative.

All details will be fully described to interested parties,
with full description of the plantation, plans of operation
furnished, describing Mexico plantation investments and the
raising of sugar cane and all tropical products, by applying
to Mr. Jacob Knupp, 131 Kimball Building, Boston, or
Room 214 Industrial Trust Building, Providence, R. I.

B irrontter heroine

By Rev. Grant Powers

tlCHARD WALLACE settled in the west part of
Thetford, Vt. He was at Charlestown, N. H., in
the summer of 1777, when a report came that the
British and Tories were to attack Royalton, Charlestown
and Newbury, in three divisions. Wallace made all speed
for Thetford. He met, near where the meeting-house now
stands, men, women and children, some in carts, some on
sleds and in sleighs (in midsummre), and some on foot,
hurrying to a place of safety. But his wife was not with
them. Wallace put spurs to his steed, and soon arrived
at his hut, where he found her sticking by the stuff. They
carried their household goods into the woods and covered
them with bushes, but next day got a team and removed
them to settlements near the river. Wallace then enlisted
to go in pursuit of Burgoyne and his army.

Mrs. Wallace deserves distinct notice in this place.
At the time of the alarm, Wallace had corn, oats and
potatoes growing on his newly cleared land. After he had
gone and the alarm had somewhat subsided, Mrs. Wallace
travelled out six miles to see the crops. She found the
oats ripe for harvesting, and many of them lodged. She
was all alone, and no man could be procured to assist her
in gathering them, for all tnat could be spared had gone to
the field of battle. Nothing daunted at this, she took a
scythe and mowed them, dried them, raked them into
bunches, bound them, and stacked them in good style.
She then took an axe, cut poles, fenced them about, and
then went back to the river. When her corn stalks were
ripe for cutting, she went out, cut them, bound them, and
put them on top of her stack of oats. In like manner she

56 CONTRASTS IN GEOGRAPHY

went out and gathered the corn, and dug the potatoes, and
secured both. She then went to work at clearing some
ground that had been felled, and was burned over the year
before; and when her husband returned from the army,
she had cleared and sown one acre of wheat; and during
his absence she had travelled, in going to and from the
river, seventy-two miles.

Contrasts in <$eograpl)P

By Marvin Dana

EW YORK is usually thought of as being directly
West from London. It is, however, despite its
far more rigorous climate, nine hundred miles
nearer the equator than is the British capital. The bleak
coast of Labrador is directly west of London. The same
line passes the southern part of Hudson Bay and Lake
Winnipeg; on the other side of the continent, it touches
the southern extremity of Alaska, and continues through
the center of the Isthmus of Kamchatka, and Siberia and
Russia, to Hamburg.

It is astonishing, too, to reflect on the fact that Mon-
treal, with its winters of extraordinary severity, is three
hundred and fifty miles nearer the equator than is Lon-
don. Montreal, indeed, is on the same degree of latitude
as Venice.

Another illustration of the unexpected in contrasts is
found in a comparison of St. Johns, Newfoundland, with
Paris. Paris has a winter of comparative mildness, while
St. Johns is a region of bitter cold and fogs, with drifting
icebergs along its coast. Yet St. Johns is one hundred
miles nearer the equator.

park's 3inbepenfcent Command at
2$etmmgion

By Herbert C. Foster, with the Collaboration of Thomas W.
Streeter

(Conclusion)

UR plan is adopted . . . meet us as proposed. . . .
If the enemy shall have possession of that place
. . . appoint another."

Finally, the agreement of the three generals on the
plan is indicated in Schuyler's letter on the day of the
battle of Bennington, the 16th day of August, to the
Massachusetts council:

"Lincoln . . . was at ten this Morning at Half Moon
. . . and is by my orders, — going to join General Stark
and try to make a diversion and draw off the Attention of
the enemy by marching to the Northern parts of Cam-
bridge, Vt. [New York] . . . Happily I have assurances
from General Stark that he will not hesitate to do what
is required."

Unfortunately Schuyler and Lincoln agreed upon this
flank attack too late to aid Stark in its execution. On the
1 6th of August they were still twenty miles away, on the
banks of the Hudson, Schuyler planning "to make a
Diversion and draw off the Attention of the enemy," and
Lincoln just starting with 500 or 600 men — on the very
day when Stark won the battle of Bennington, before rein-
forcements from the Continental army on the Hudson
could reach him."

On the 9th of August, Stark marched to Bennington
instead of proceeding directly to Stillwater. On the same
day Burgoyne played into his hands by detaching Baum on

58 stark's command at bennington

the expedition toward Bennington to "try the affection of
the Country; to disconcert the Councils of the Enemy . . .
and obtain large supplies of Cattle, Horses & Carriages."
On the day he received these instructions from Burgoyne,
Baum marched from Fort Edward southward to
Fort Miller. Two days later he set out from Fort Miller to
Saratoga. The 12th, he moved from Saratoga to Batten-
kill, on the east side of the Hudson, and here halted to
receive fresh instructions from Burgoyne. On the 13th,
Baum slowly marched sixteen miles in twelve hours from
Battenkill to Cambridge, which was on the direct road to
Bennington and only eighteen miles distant from it. On
this day, "thirty provincials and fifty savages" of Baum's
force came into collision with two small bodies of Amer-
icans and so gave warning of the nearness of the British.
'Long before sunrise on the 14th," Baum's "little corps
was under arms" with the "intention to march at once
upon Bennington"; but he was delayed "at the farm . . .
of Sankoik" on "the northern branch of the Hosac,"
where the retreating Americans had broken down the
bridge. He therefore "bivouacked at the farm of Walam-
scott, about four miles from Sankoick, and three from Ben-
nington." On the 15th, Baum finding his outposts again
attacked, sent back for reinforcemeuts, and fortified a posi-
tion on a height to the left of "the farm of Walamscott."
A few sentences from the stirring "Account of the Battle
of Bennington," by Glich, give a clear-cut picture of the
engagement as viewed by the Germans from their intrench-
ments:

"The morning of the sixteenth rose beautifully serene.
. . . Colonel Baume . . . some how or other persuaded to
believe, that the armed bands, of whose approach he was
warned, were loyalists . . . found himself attacked in front
and flanked by thrice his number . . . whilst the very
persons in whom he had trusted, and to whom he had given
arms, lost no time in turuing them against him. . . . When
the heads of the columns began to show themselves in rear

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 59

of our right and left . . . the Indians . . . lost all confi-
dence and fled . . . leaving us more than ever exposed.
. . . An accident . . . exposed us, almost defenceless, to
our fate. The solitary tumbril, which contained the whole
of our spare ammunition, became ignited, and blew up.
For a few seconds the scene which ensued defies all power
of language to describe. The bayonet, the butt of the
rifle, the sabre, the pike, were in full play, and men fell as
they rarely fall in modern warfare, under the direct blows
of their enemies. . .. . Col. Baume, shot through the body
by a rifle ball, fell mortally wounded, and all order and
discipline being lost, flight or submission was alone
thought of."

From the letters of Baum and the picturesque account
of Glich, we must turn, for the American story, to the
terse dispatch of Stark to the New Hampshire authorities,
written two days after the battle:

"The 13 th I was inform'd that a party of Indians were
at Cambridge ... I detached Col° Gregg with 200 men
under his command to stop their march. In the evening I
had information by express that there was a large body of
the enemy on their way with their field pieces. . . . The 14 th
I marched with my Brigade & a few of this States' Militia,
to oppose them and to cover Gregg's retreat. . . . About
four miles from the Town [Bennington] I accordingly met
him on his return, and the Enemy in close pursuit of him,
within half a mile of his rear. ... I drew up my little
army on an eminence in open view of their encampments,
but could not bring them to an engagement. I marched
back about a mile, and there encamp'd. . . . The 15 th it
rain'd all day; I sent out parties to harrass them.

"The 16th I was join'd by this States' Militia and those
of Berkshire County; I divided my army into three Divis-
ions, and sent Col. Nichols with 250 men on their rear of
their left wing; Col°. Hendrick in the Rear of their right,
w-ith 300 men, order'd when join'd to attack the same.

"In the mean time I sent 300 men to oppose the Enemy's
front, to draw their attention that way; Soon after I

60 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

detach'd the Colonels Hubbart & Stickney on their right,
wing with 200 men to attack that part, all which plans had
their desired effect. Col° Nichols sent me word that he
stood in need of a reinforcement, which I readily granted,
consisting of 100 men, at which time he commenced the
attack precisely at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, which was
followed by all the rest. I pushed forward the remainder
with all speed; our people behaved with the greatest spirit
& bravery imaginable: Had they been Alexanders or
Charleses of Sweden, they could not have behaved better.
The action lasted two hours. ... I rec d intelligence that
there was a large reinforcement within two miles of us, on
their march, which occasion'd us to renew our attack. But
luckily for us Col° Warner's Regiment came up, which put
a stop to their career. . . . We used their own cannon
against them. ... At Sunset we obliged them to beat a
second retreat. . . .

"I have 1 Lieut. Col° since dead, 1 major, 7 Captains,
14 Lieut 5 4 Ensigns, 2 Cornets, 1 Judge advocate, 1 Bar-
ron, 2 Canadian officers, 6 sergeants, 1 Aid-de-camp &
seven hundred prisoners; — I almost forgot 1 Hessian
Chaplain."

In his tactics on the battle field, Stark showed the
same qualities he had displayed in the general strategy of
the campaign — quick insight and decision, followed by
deliberate and stubborn action. At Bennington, just as at
Bunker Hill and Trenton, Stark was quick to see the
importance of flank movements, and cool in carrying them
out He was "as active in attack as he had then been
obstinate in defense." Because he had insisted on the
plan of a flank movement in the campaign preceding the
battle, Stark had a force on the spot ready to oppose Baum
and "check Burgoyne."

The battle of Bennington was won by the militia of
New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, under the
command of Stark. As we have already seen, Lincoln
was at Half Moon on the Hudson the day of the battle,

stark's command at bennington 61

and was not in time, therefore, to return and co-operate
with Stark and Warner. Stark and his troops would like-
wise have been unable to return to Bennington, had he
allowed them on the 7th of August to march to Stillwater
as they had been ordered to do before he arrived at Man-
chester and "chose to command himself." That there was
any respectable force at Bennington capable of offering
resistance to Baum is due to the resolute good sense of
Stark and of the Vermont Council of Safety, and to the
terms of the independent command given Stark by the State
of New Hampshire. Had Schuyler's orders of the 4th and
9th of August to Lincoln and the Vermont Council been
carried out, the militia would have been on the Hudson
more than twenty miles away, when Baum approached
Bennington. The facts, then, as told by the participants
fully substantiate the statement of Josiah Bartlett quoted
at the beginning of this paper:

"Had Gen 1 Starks gone to Stillwater agreable to
orders; there would have been none to oppose Col. Baum
in carrying Gen 1 Burgoyne's orders into Execution."

It is evident that Stark's fellow citizens and fellow
soldiers of New Hampshire and Vermont understood the
situation and had some substantial reasons for feeling that
the independent command was justified both by the con-
ditions which preceded it and by the results which followed.

The unfavorable judgment of General Lincoln and of
the Continental Congress remains to be discussed. The
usual statement is that Stark, on his arrival at Manchester,
was ordered by Schuyler to march to Stillwatet and refused
to do so. Two facts which seem to have escaped notice
show this statement to be a somewhat misleading half-
truth. In the first place, Schuyler's orders were not to
Stark; they were transmitted directly by Lincoln to Stark's
brigade of milita without Stark's knowledge. Second
Stark eventually acted in harmony with Schuyler; he
started to march to the appointed rendezvous at Cambridge
on the 13th when he received word that the enemy were

62 stark's COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

already there; and on the 16th of September he did march
to Stillwater, but he marched via Bennington, and after
carrying out the flank attack desired by both Schuyler and
Washington.

Of the relations betweed Lincoln and Stark at Man-
chester, Vermont, on the /th of August, we have three
accounts: one by Lincoln in a letter to Schuyler trans-
mitted by the latter to Congress; one in a letter by Captain
Peter Clark of Stark's brigade; and a newspaper account,
which appeared in Stark's lifetime, "collected from the
papers and conversations of the General by his son-in-law,
B. F. Stickney, Esq." Stark's own account, contained in a
letter written the 7th of August and acknowledged on the
12th by the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, cannot
now be found. The nearest approach to Stark's story
is therefore the version which appears to have been
given by Stark to his family and published by his son-in-
law in the Concord Patriot, May 15, 18 10, twelve years
before the general's death. This is also quoted verbatim in
the "Biographical Sketch" published in the year of Stark's
death in "Farmer and Moore's Collections," and stated by
them to be based on particulars given by Stark's oldest
son Caleb and his son-in-law, Stickney. This contem-
porary family account is as follows:

"He [Stark] found the advantage of his independent
command immediately upon his arrival at Manchester, for
the packs of his men were paraded as for a march. He
enquired for the cause, and was informed Gen. Lincoln had
been there and had ordered them off to the Sprouts, at the
mouth of Mohawk river. He sought for, and found Lin-
coln, and demanded of him his authority for undertaking
the command of his men. Lincoln said it was by order of
General Schuyler. Stark desired him to tell Gen. Schuyler
that he considered himself adequate to the command of
his own men, and gave him copies of his commission and
orders."

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 63

This family version is corroborated by the testimony of
one of Stark's captains, Peter Clark, of Lyndeboro, New
Hampshire, who wrote his wife as follows:

"Manchester [Vt.], August 6, 1777.

. . . We have made us tents with boards but this
moment we have had orders to march for Bennington and
leave them, and from thence we are to march for Albany
to join the Continental Army, and try to stop Burgoyne in
his career. . . ,

August 7, 1777.

A few minutes after I finished my letter there was a
considerable turn in affairs by reason of Gen. 1 Stark arriv-
ing in town. The orders we had for marching was given
by General Lincoln — what passed between Lincoln and
Stark is not known but by what we can gather together,
Stark chooses to command himself. I expect we shall
march for Bennington next Sabbath and where we shall go
to from there I cannot tell."

It was entirely natural for Stark to "choose to com-
mand himself" the brigade which he had raised, and which
he had been commissioned to command. It was also
inevitable that the sturdy and quick tempered old Indian
fighter should have felt affronted, when he found that his
volunteer militia had been ordered off without his knowl-
edge, and moreover that the order had been given by one
of the men who had been made a major-general when
Stark was passed over, the previous February, by Con-
gress. Consequently, a strong personal feeling inevitably
cropped out in the conversation between Lincoln and
Stark; and this personal element was naturally emphasized
in the following account sent by Lincoln to Schuyler.

"Bennington, Aug. st 8.^ 1777.
Dear General

Yesterday Gen. 1 Stark from New Hampshire came
into camp at Manchester — by his Instructions from that

64 stark's command at bennington

State It is at his option to Act in Conjunction with the
Continental Armey or not. He seems to be exceedingly
soured and thinks he hath been neglected and hath
not had Justice done him by Congress — he is determined
not to join the Continental Armey untill the Congress
give him his Rank therein — his Claim is to command all
the Officers he Commanded last Year as also all those who
joined the Armey after him. Whether he will march his
Troops to Stillwater or not I am quite at a loss to know —
but It he doth it is a fixed point with him to act there as a
Seperate Chor and take no orders from any officer in the
Northern Department saving your Honour for he saith
they all were Either Commanded by him the last year
or joined the Armey after him Its very unhappy that
this matter by him is carried to so great a length espe-
cially at at (sic) time when Every exertion for our Common
Safety is so absolutely Necessary I have Good Reason to
believe if the State of New Hampshire were Informed of
the Matter they would give New and Very different In-
structions to Gen. 1 Starkes. The Troops from the Massa-
chusetts are Collecting here I don't know what Number
may be Expected. I suppose the Rear will be up tomorrow
night at farthest I am Dear Sir with Regard and Esteam
your most Obed. 1 Humble Servt B. Lincoln."

To Lincoln's letter Schuyler made immediate and
tactful reply. "You will please to assure General Stark
that I have acquainted Congress of his situation, and that
I trust and entreat he will, on the present and alarming
crisis, waive his right, as the greater the sacrifice he makes
to his feelings, the greater will be the honor due to him."
Lincoln forwarded this letter to Stark with the generous
endorsement: "I can only subjoin my entreaties to his that
you will not now, when every exertion for the common
safety is necessary, suffer any consideration to prevent
your affording him all the succour in your power."

These three letters of Lincoln and Schuyler consti-
tute the evidence left by them as to any lack of harmony

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 65

with Stark. There is no reference to it by Schuyler in his
defence before the court martial; none by Stark after the
missing letter of the 7th of August; and none by Wash-
ington in his correspondence. Stark and Schuyler knew
and valued each other, and Lincoln acted honorably and
tactfully.

We have already seen that Schuyler was reconverted
to the plan of a flank attack and planned to send Lincoln
to aid Stark in carrying it out. Stark also on his part
shared the readiness to co-operate with Lincoln and Schuy-
ler in a flank movement toward the Hudson. He began his
march before the battle of Bennington and completed it after
winning the victory. On the 8th of August, Stark advanced
half way to Stillwater, marching some twenty miles south-
west from Manchester, Vermont, to Bennington. On the
13th, Stark was preparing to continue his march, appar-
ently to Cambridge in pursuance of the plan agreed upon
with Lincoln, when news came of the approach of Baum.
On the 13th, says Captain Peter Clark, "the whole Brigade
was paraded to march to Still Water and while under arms
the General, received intelligence that there was a large
body of the Enemy coming to destroy the stores at Ben-
nington, whereupon the Brigade was dismissed." On
receipt of Stark's letter of the same day, Lincoln replied:
"As the troops were not on the march, I am glad you
detained them in Bennington. ... If the enemy have
possession of that place . . . [i. e. Cambridge] appoint
another." The credit for this wise delay at Bennington
Stark generously gave to the Vermont Council of Safety,
with whom he evidently acted in fullest harmony. Two
days after the battle, he wrote to the Hartford Courant as
follows:

"I received orders to march to Manchester and act in
conjunction with Col. Warner. After my arrival at that
place I received orders from Major General Lincoln pur-
suant to orders from General Schuyler, to march my whole
brigade to Stillwater, and join the main army then under

66 • stark's COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

his command. At the same time requested the whole of
the militia (by Gen. Schuyler's order) of the State of Ver-
mont to join him and march to Stillwater as aforesaid. In
obedience thereto I marched with my brigade to Benning-
ton on my way to join him, leaving that part of the coun-
try almost naked to the ravage of the enemy. The Hon-
orable the Council then sitting at Bennington were much
against my marching with my Brigade, as it was raised on
their request, they apprehending great danger of the
enemy's approaching to that place, which afterwards we
found truly to be the case. They happily agreed to post-
pone giving orders to the militia to march."

Congress was not so well informed of the situation as
were Schuyler and Lincoln and the Vermont Council.
The action of Congress was therefore neither particularly
intelligent nor timely. The letter of the 8th of August
from Lincoln to Schuyler describing his meeting with
Stark, already quoted above, was forwarded by Schuyler
to Congress. Upon that body it made naturally an
impression that was both unfavorable and false. The
impression was unfavorable, since the letter so strongly
emphasized the personal grievances of Stark and his criti-
cism of Congress. The impression was false, because,
while not stating definitely the reasons for the actions of
of New Hampshire, the letter would give the casual or
prejudiced reader the false idea that New Hampshire gave
Stark the independent command because he felt he "hath
not had justice done him by Congress." In justice to
Lincoln it should be remembered that he wrote under per-
sonally irritating circumstances a personal letter intended
for Schuyler and not for Congress. A more careful perusal
of Lincoln's letter shows that it gives merely Stark's per-
sonal attitude; it was not intended to give and it did not
give any indication of the reasons which led New Hamp-
shire to give Stark his independent command. The cause
• of New Hampshire's action was not a private grievance,
but a public necessity. To understand it we must turn

STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON 67

from the personal grievance described by Lincoln to the
facts testified to by Josiah Bartlett and now printed for
the first time. Unfortunately it was upon Lincoln's letter
that contemporary judgment of New Hampshire's action
was based, and later writers have started from this false
basis. The impression which that letter made upon a New
Hampshire delegate in Congress is shown in the following
shrewd comments appended by George Frost to a copy of
Lincoln's letter which he forwarded to the New Hamp-
shire authorties.

"The foregoing letter was Sent by Gen. 1 Lincoln to
Gen. 1 Schoyler and by P. Schoyler to Congress which is
Very alarming to Congress that Gen. 1 Starkes should take
Occasion to Resent any Supposed Affrunt by Congress to
him when his Country lays at Stake, at the same time
would take notis that we shall loos the benifet of our troops
being put in the Continentall pay Except the Measures are
alterd, and woud also observe he don't refuse to put him-
selfe under Gen. 1 Schoyler who is Recarled from that com-
mand and Congress has given the Command of the Armey
to Gen. 1 Gates, w ch I suppose Gel. Starkes knew not of at
that time, as to the promotion of Officers in the Armey
the Congress went on a new plan agreaed on in Baltimore
(at the Raising the as it Called Standing Armey) that
Every State Should in Some measure have their propor-
tion of Gen. 1 Officers according to the Troops they Raised
by which Reason som officers was superseded or as they
call affronted."

Under the misleading impression derived from Lin-
coln's letter to Schuyler, Congress on the 19th of August,
three days after Stark's indendent instructions had enabled
him to render effective aid "to the common cause," passed
the following vote of censure, in complete ignorance of the
victory at Bennington:

"Hesolved, That a copy of general Lincoln's letter be
forthwith transmitted to the council of New-Hampshire,
and that they be informed, that the instructions which gen-

68 stark's COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

eral Stark says he has received from them are destructive
of military subordination and highly prejudicial to the com-
mon cause at this crisis; and therefore that they be desired
to instruct general Stark to conform himself to the same
rules which other general officers of the militia are subject
to whenever they are called out at the expence of the
United States."

In the debate on this resolution, the New Hampshire
delegates defended her action, on the basis of reasons con-
tained in a letter from Josiah Bartlett. "The militia of
that State had lost all confidence in the General Officers
who had the command at Tyconderoga . . . they would not
turn out nor be commanded by such officers; the preserva-
tion of the lives of the inhabitants on our frontiers . . .
made such orders at that critical time absolutely necessary;
we were not about to justify General Stark for making a
demand of rank in the army at that critical time, but we
well knew he had a great deal to say for himself on that
head, and had . . . distinguished himself, while others
were advanced over his head. . . . We informed Congress
that we had not the least doubt but the first battle they
heard of from the North would be fought by Stark and
the troops commanded by him. . . . Judge of our feelings,
when the very next day we had a confirmation of what we
had asserted by an express from General Schuyler giving
an Account of the victory obtained by General Stark and
the troops under his command. We believe this circum-
stance only will make those easy who have been trying to
raise a dust in Congress."

The vote of censure by Congress was certainly ill-
timed; probably it would have never been proposed had
Congress waited one day longer. On the 4th of October,
Congress was better informed and passed a vote that was
more generous and more just.

"Hesolved, That the thanks of Congress be presented
to general Stark of the New-Hampshire militia, and the
officers and troops under his command, for their brave and

stark's command at bennington 69

successful attack upon, and signal victory over, the enemy
in their lines at Bennington; and that brigadier Stark be
appointed a brigadier general in the army of the United
States."

The New Hampshire instructions to Stark were doubt-
less in theory "destructive of military subordination"; but
''military subordination" had to yield to the more imper-
ative necessity of a military force capable of "the preser-
vation of the lives of the inhabitants on our frontiers."
At that memorable three days' session in July, 1777, the
members of the New Hampshire General Court and of the
Committee of Safety were confronted, not with a ques-
tion of rank, but with the far more vital one of self-preser-
vation. They knew that a brigade could not be raised in
face of the universal loss of confidence in the generals of
the Northern Department, and of the fear that any militia
would be called to the "southward," away from the threat-
ened frontier. They had been summoned in extra session
not in response to calls for continental troops but to
answer the cry of distress from their Vermont neighbors.
They knew that men would volunteer promptly to serve
under Stark and that he was admirably fitted by nature and
experience to manage such a volunteer militia unhampered
by restrictions. They therefore left it to his discretion
whether he should join with continental troops or not.

The peculiar instructions giving Stark an independent
command seem admirably adapted to meet the peculiar
exigencies of the situation. That they were so adapted is
proven by the results which followed. Stark's independent
command enabled him, first, to recruit a brigade of 1,492
officers and men in six days, and to move forward at once,
knowing his volunteers would follow without hesitation;
second, to insist on a flank attack, based on sound
strategy; third, to reconvert Schuyler to this sound
strategy; fourth, to co-operate with militia from Vermont
and Massachusetts in retaining at Bennington a force suffi-
cient to check Baum and win the battle of Bennington;

70 STARK'S COMMAND AT BENNINGTON

and finally to restore confidence and then to march with
victorious troops to Stillwater and Saratoga.

Without the independent command, the presence of
Stark and his brigade at Bennington was an impossibility.
Without Stark and his brigade, the victory at Bennington
was impossible. Without Bennington, who can say what
a difference there might have been at Saratoga? It is
unnecessary to enlarge upon the importance of the Battle
of Bennington; it has been recognized from that day to
this by both American and British contestants and his-
torians. It is enough to refer to Washington's estimate of
what he called "the great stroke struck by Gen. Stark near
Bennington"; and to the judgment of the latest and most
epigrammatic of the English historians of the Revolution:
"Bennington . . . proved to be the turning point of the
Saratoga campaign which was the turning point of the
war." To one who examines carefully the records of that
day or the judgments of this, Stark's independent com-
mand appears a turning point not only in a decisive battle,
but also in a decisive campaign, and in an epoch-making
movement. To the sober second thought of his day or
of ours, Stark's independent command seems warranted by
its deep-seated causes and justified by its far-reaching
results.

We have followed the story of Stark's campaign as
told by participants and contemporaries. It is a tale of
swift preparation, strategic delay, and intrepid attack.

Stark "chose to command himself" the army which he
had raised himself; but he felt he acted in accord with
Schuyler, as well as in fulfillment of the terms of his inde-
pendent command. The responsibility for granting that
command must be shared by the public sentiment which
demanded it, the General Court which voted it, and the
general who accepted it. The credit for the sound j udgment
which led to the wise delay at Bennington must be given
to Stark and the Vermont Council of Safety. The final
accord in plans is due to the wise and eventually harmoni-

stark's command at bennington 71

ous action of Schuyler of New York, and Lincoln of
Massachusetts, as well as of Stark of New Hampshire and
Warner of Vermont. Schuyler and Stark supplemented
each other admirably both in personal characteristics and in
manner of conducting a campaign; Lincoln helped to pre-
vent a rupture between them; the Berkshire militia and
Parson Allen were just in time for the fighting on which
they insisted; Warner and the Vermont men and supplies
and especially the timely reinforcements against Breyman
were essential to both the campaign and the final engage-
ment. The final result was so creditable that there was
credit enough for all concerned. The plans and prepar-
ations of Schuyler and the Vermont Council were essen-
tial to Stark's opportunity; Stark's power to take advantage
of that opportunity was due to his independent command.

Stark's independent command was in historic harmony
with the unfortunate but inevitable conditions which he
had to meet; with the task he had to perform; and with
the characteristics of the man and his contemporaries.
Personal independence and self-assertiveness were the dis-
tinguishing characteristics of the frontiersman and Indian
fighter, and of his troops whom he so aptly described as
"undisciplined freemen . . . men that had not learned the
art of submission, nor had they been trained to the art of
war." These were also the distinctive characteristics of
the frontier life of colonial New Hampshire and Vermont,
and of the period of the Revolution. The conditions
which necessitated the independent command are much to
be regretted; but so also are the conditions which necessi-
tated the Revolution.

The Bennington campaign brings out sharply the
strength and weakness of the Revolutionary era, when the
newly born American nation was passionately devoted to
the idea of liberty, but had not yet learned to understand
and love the idea of union. It was in the next generation
that a son of one of Stark's captains knit the two ideas

rl CLOUDLAXD FACES

together and kindled men's imaginations with the concep-
tion of ''liberty and union."

In its illustration of the temper of the Revolution lies
perhaps the chief value of this story, told by the men of
that day, of their month of swift and triumphant compaign,
from the 18th of July at Exeter when Speaker John Lang-
don gave his pledge and prophecy, to the 16th of August
when General John Stark fulfilled the prophecy and
"checked Burgpvne."

CtouManb i?ace$

By Emory Charles Bean

I sit at my western window
As the sun sinks down to rest,

And I see in the clouds the faces
Of those that I love best.

And those faces they all seem

Like the faces in a dream.

And so I sit and ponder,

And watch them come and go;

Some are young and handsome,
And some are white as snow.

And those faces they all seem

Like the faces in a dream

Now what think you of those faces,
As they pass in the western sky?

Do you believe that we'll meet them
In the happy bye and bye?

Oh, yes; I think that we'll meet them
And pass in grand review

Before our friends on earth
As they are wont to do.

Manchester, N. H., December 25, 1907.

[.;*'"

.. :.. ^^^.^

- ',

- K • few*

■■. » f> ■ ~ '

, 4v -" '

^W j

.-]''' f/

■ , *

Gen. JONATHAN PRINCE CILLEY

General 3iosepf) CtUep

By John Scales, A. B., A. M.

/^^HE duel was fought on the 24th of February.
'U^ Hon. John Fairfield, congressman from York
^^ county, Me., at once introduced a resolution in
the house, calling for the appointment of a committee to
investigate the affair and report whether there had been
any breach of the privileges of the house. That committee
reported on the 21st of April, 1838, that "It is a breach of
the highest privilege of the house, and of the most sacred
rights of the people, in the person of their representative,
to demand, in a hostile manner, an explanation of words
spoken in debate." The report was accompanied by reso-
lutions for the expulsion of Graves, Wise and Jones. A
long debate followed, in which the sentiments expressed in
favor of duelling seem most ridiculous now. Finally they
were saved from expulsion by a vote of 102 to 76, but this
did not end the excitement and indignation outside of the
house, and James Watson Webb, the New York editor,
was denounced as equally guilty with Graves. The following
session of congress enacted the law, which now stands,
forever forbidding duelling by congresssmen for words
spoken in debate. Party feeling then ran high, but party
lines were abolished in the manifestation of indignation.
It was denounced as "a dastardly murder," "a cold blooded
assasination." Mr. Cilley himself believed that the chal-
lenge was the fruit of a desire to take his life. Mr. Cilley
said to his friends on the morning of the encounter:

"I am driven to this meeting by a positive compulsion.
I have done all that an honorable man could to avert it.
Why should I acknowledge that man (Webb) to be a gen-

74 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

tleman and a man of honor? In truth and conscience I
could not do so; and still less can I have it so unreason-
ably extorted from me by force and threat. I have no ill
will or disrespect towards Mr. Graves. He knows it, and
I have repeatedly expressed it. I abhor the idea of taking
his life, and I will do nothing not forced upon me in self-
defense. The pretext of the challenge is absurd. I under-
stand the conspiracy to destroy me as a public man. But
New England must not be trampled upon; my name must
not be disgraced; and I go to this field sustained by as
high a motive of patriotism as ever led my grandfather or
my brother to battle; as an unhappy duty, not to be shrunk
from, to my honor, my principles and my country."

Mr. Cilley's college classmate and lifelong friend,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, said of this duel, soon after it
occurred: "A challenge was never given on a more shadowy
pretext; a duel was never pressed to a fatal close in the
face of such open kindness as was expressed by Mr.
Cilley; and the conclusion is inevitable that Mr. Graves
and his principal second, Mr. Wise, have gone further than
their own dreadful code will warrant them, and overstepped
the imaginary distinction, which, on their own principles,
separates manslaughter from murder."

Mr. Hawthorne further said: "As a young man he was
of a quick and powerful intellect, endowed with sagacity
and tact, yet frank and free in his mode of action; ambi-
tious of good influence, earnest, active and persevering,
with an elasticity and cheerful strength of mind, which
made difficulties easy and the struggles with them a
pleasure. He was the kindliest and gentlest of human
beings, with a constant and happy flow of animal spirits,
and the innocence of a child; while at the same time as
independent, courageous and firm in his purpose as he was
clear in his judgment and upright in his every thought."

GEN. JONATHAN PRINCE CILLEY

In this connection it seems proper to give a brief men-
tion of Congressman Cilley's son, Gen. Jonathan Prince

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 70

Cilley of Thomaston, Ale., who was two years old when his
father was killed in the duel. General Cilley graduated at
Bovvdoin College in 1858; studied law with A. P. Gould of
Thomaston, Me., and after admission to the bar practised
his profession in that city. At the beginning of the Civil
War he enlisted 150 men for a light field battery; but that
arm of the service not being required, he enlisted in the
First Maine Cavalry and was commissioned captain.
During the retreat of General Banks from the Shenandoah
Valley, he was wounded and made prisoner at Middletown,
May 24, 1862. Subsequently he was promoted to be major
and was assigned to duty as judge advocate and examining
officer at the central guard house in Washington. D. C.
In 1863 he rejoined his regiment, although his severe
wound had not completely healed; in 1864 he was promoted
to lieutenant-colonel and placed in command of a regiment,
which position he held till the close of the war; when he
was mustered out, in 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-gen-
eral, for distinguished services at Five Forks, Farmville and
Appomattox court house. His regiment was the banner
regiment of Maine, and bears the names of three more
battles upon its standard than any other regiment in the
Army of the Potomac, and on the standard General Cilley
is designated as "the first man who enlisted, the first man
wounded, and nearly the last man mustered out." It is
officially stated that his regiment had ten more men and
one more officer than any other cavalry regiment in the
United States' service.

After the war, General Cilley resumed his law practice
in Rockland, Me., and has been much honored by his state.
He has been a member of the legislature, deputy collector
of customs, adjutant-general of the state, commissioner of
the United States circuit court. He is an active member
of the Maine Historical Society, corresponding member of
the New Hampshire Historical Society, member of the
New Hampshire Society of Cincinnati and of the Loyal
Legion Commandery of Maine. General Cilley has no

:-'"

76 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

children, having lost his only son, a very brilliant and
excellent young man, a few years ago.

GENERAL CILLEY's SONS CONCLUDED

The fifth son and sixth child was Daniel, born March
12, 1769; married November 7, 1790, Hannah Plumer; he
died December 4, 1842. His wife was a sister of Gov.
William Plumer and daughter of Samuel and Mary Dole
Plumer. She died February 19, 1850. Mr. Cilley was a
farmer and resided in Epsom, where he was one of the
most worthy and highly respected citizens. They had
seven sons and one daughter. One of the sons was Rev.
Daniel Plumer Cilley, who was one of the leading clergy-
men of the Freewill Baptist denomination. He was born
May 31, 1806, and died in Farmington, November 14, 1888.
He was chaplain of the Eighth New Hampshire Regi-
ment of Volunteers during the Civil War, and had a brave
record as a fighting chaplain, as well as in praying. Mrs.
Adelaide Cilley Waldron, author and editor, wife of Judge
John Waldron of Farmington, is his daughter.

A very large concourse of people attended his funeral:
At the service, one of his fellow-ministers, the oldest
among the number, who knew him in early years, arose and
said: "I knew this king among men all his life. How
powerfully he could preach; how fervently he prayed, and
oh, how sweetly he sang."

He had a remarkably vibrant, strong and resonant,
but sweet, high voice. I have seen few men so noticeable
in personal port and fineness of feature. He was very
dainty in his habits, clean of life and tongue, high-minded
— and with all the fighting impulse of the soldierly clan of
the Cilleys, on occasion.

The sixth son and eighth child of General Cilley was
Jacob, born July 19, 1773; married, January 8, 1801, Har-
riet, daughter of General Enoch Poor. He died January
22, 183 1. His wife was born January 31, 1780; died June
7, 1838, He resided in Nottingham and was known as

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 77

Major Cilley, having held that office in the state militia.
He was also a justice of the peace many years and repre-
sentative from Nottingham in the legislature for 1802,
1803, 1S06, 1807, 1S08, 1 8 10, 1 8 12 and 18 13. One of his
grandsons was Prof. Bradbury Longfellow Cilley, who was
for forty years professor of Greek in Phillips Exeter Acad-
emy. Another grandson is Gen. Harry B. Cilley of Man-
chester, whose father was Jacob Green Cilley and whose
mother (Martha Cilley Bouton) is granddaughter of
Horatio Gates Cilley, and great-granddaughter of Gen.
Joseph Cilley.

Horatio Gates Cilley, the seventh son andyoungest child
of Gen. Joseph Cilley, was born December23, 1777; married
November 17, 1802, Sally Jenness; she was born in Deer-
field, August 4, 1782; he died November 26, 1837; she died
November n, i860. He was a farmer and resided in
Deerfield. He was an extensive land owner, a man of
great energy of character, a safe counsellor, a good advo-
cate, generous and humane. His only son, Horatio Gates
Cilley, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1S27, and
was a prominent lawyer of Lewiston, Me. A grandson,.
Horatio Gates Cilley, graduated from Dartmouth in 1863

HIS MILITARY RECORD

Gen. Joseph Cilley was a representative from Notting-
ham in the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire, which
was held at Exeter in June, 1775. His most conspicuous
service in that Congress was his appointment as one of
a committee to go to Portsmouth for the money belonging
to the Province, then in the hands of the treasurer, George
Jeffreys, Esq. The treasurer was unwilling to give it to
the committee, but finally complied with the request. The
money was taken to Exeter and deposited in a safe in the
old Gilman house, which house is now owned by the New
Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati. General Cilley was
one of the original members of this society, and his great-
grandson, Gen. Jonathan Prince Cilley, of Maine, is the

78 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

present lineal representative. Six months before that,
December 15, 1774, General Cilley was one of the party
with Gen. John Sullivan of Durham, who took the cannon
and other implements of war from Fort William and Mary,
now Fort Constitution, and carried them up the river to
Durham, with the powder, one hundred barrels or more,
which had been captured and taken from the fort on the
afternoon of the day before, December 14, by a party of
Portsmouth men, led by Capt. John Langdon. This was
done on the suggestion of Paul Revere, who came to that
town from Boston with the information that no more
powder was to be imported, and that the British would
probably remove any found from the fort if the people of
Portsmouth did not make the first move and take it. From
Durham the powder and cannon were distributed inland,
in various towns, for safe keeping. The Pascataqua River
was free of ice up to its head, the entrance to Little Bay
at Fox Point, and the mouth of the Oyster River.

The river and bay were frozen over, and it took a
crew of men two days to break the ice and get the powder
and cannon up to the head of tide water, a distance of two
miles, to the old meeting-house, near General Sullivan's
house. General Cilley and General Sullivan worked with
the big crew of men until the powder was stored tempora-
rily under the meeting-house. That transaction was the
first act of war in the Revolution; the conflict at Lexing-
ton and Concord was four months later. It was very
fortunate that the powder and cannon were removed
from the fort on December 14 and 15, for a day or two
afterwards the British frigate "Scarboro" and the sloop
"Canseau" arrived at Portsmouth with several companies
of soldiers, who took possession of the fort and of the
heavy cannon which Sullivan and his men had not been
able to remove. Paul Revere's ride to Portsmouth on
December 13, 1774, was no less important, though not
quite so exciting and picturesque, as his ride from Charles-
town to Lexington and Concord, four months later. On

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 79

the afternoon of December 14, Capt. John Langdon and
his men had taken out of the fort one hundred barrels of
powder, and he sent word to Sullivan at Durham to come
down and take it up to that town, hence Sullivan and Cil-
leyand Bartlett and a big crew of men went to Portsmouth
and took charge of it. Sullivan thinking it better to go to
the fort and finish the job which the Portsmouth men had
so successfully begun.

"I went down (December 15) with a large number of
men and in the night (December 15-16) went in person
with gundalos, took possession of the fort, brought away
the remainder of the powder, the small arms, bayonets,
and cartouch boxes, together with the cannon and ordi-
nance stores; I was out all night (very cold) and returned
to Portsmouth next day. The gundalos, with the stores,
were brought to Durham, after several days spent in cut-
ting ice, the Durham river being then frozen over; the
cannon; etc., was then deposited in places of security."

Those "places of security" were in the towns around
Durham; one place was on Nottingham Square, where
General Cilley lived; another place was in Madbury, where
Major John Demerritt built a storage cellar under his
barn and concealed several barrels; some of that powder
he carried to Medford in January and February and it was
used by Stark and Reed's regiments at the battle of Bun-
ker Hill, as Major Demeritt himself has stated. Later
some of it was used in the siege of Boston.

After the battle of Bunker Hill, General Cilley did
not participate in civil affairs to any extent; he had a
natural taste for military affairs and his time was taken up
in the performance of duties assigned him in that line of
work by the Colonial authorities. Soon after the battles
of Lexington and Concord the Massachusetts Committee
of Safety organized the New Hampshire troops into two
regiments, appointing John Stark colonel of the First,
and James Reid, colonel of the second; soon after that the
Congress of New Hampshire gave its formal approval of

80 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

the action of the Massachusetts Committee in appointing
Stark and Reid, and also organized a Third Regiment,
appointing Enoch Poor, colonel, and Joseph Cilley, major,
and assigned this regiment to coast guard duty, from Kit-
tery to Salisbury, Mass., thus commenced the work of putting
Portsmouth in order of defense against expected attacks
from the British fleet. They were engaged in this work until
the battle of Bunker Hill; after that battle Colonel Poor's
regiment was ordered to Cambridge to engage in the Siege
of Boston, and a new regiment under command of Col-
Joshua Wingate was placed in charge of Portsmouth, and
the New Hampshire coast in general. This work became
very active after the burning of Falmouth (Portland) in
October, 1775, when it was daily expected that the British
fleet would attack the New Hampshire seaport, and burn
it. As a matter of fact, it was the most exciting period of
the war, as far as New Hampshire was concerned, though
it was never in danger of invasion after December, 1775.
At Winter Hill, August 5, 1775, General Sullivan
wrote to the Committee of Safety that the army then was
short of powder, to the great amazement of General Wash-
ington, when it was found that they had not a half pound
to a man, exclusive of what they had in their powder horns.
General Sullivan appointed Major Cilley as a special mes-
senger to carry his letter to Exeter. Arriving there August
6, on August 7 the Committe of Safety gave him the fol-
lowing order:

In Committee of Safety August 7, 1775
To Major Joseph Cilley:

You are desired as soon as possible to apply to the Selectmen cf the
Several Towns in this Colony with whom was lodged the powder taken
last winter from Fort William and Mary; take an account of what is in
their custody respectively and request of them forth with to convey the
whole of it to Col. Nicholas Gilman at Exeter.

By Order of the Committee,
Indorsed "To Major Cilley"
August 7th 1775

(To be continued)

Old Theme Poems

m_j f..

TTe Old Leather Latch-String 1

The Old Leather Latch-String

By HELEN WHITNEY CLARK

The following poem, so suggestive of "The Old Oaken Bucket"
in its trend of expression, calls to mind a scene of bygone days
that has vanished save in memory. As in the poem, the lean-to
kitchen and e'en the cabin itself has fallen and faded away from
all the homesteads of New England. So also has departed very
much of the old-time hospitality and the good cheer of the ancestral
rooftree. In the days of the latch-string the incomer did not even
stop to knock, knowing that he was always welcome. And this
confidence was seldom, if ever, misplaced. To-day this spirit
only lingers like a guest who is late to the feast of good things. In
place of the knock we hear the ting-a-ling of the electric bell, and
in place of the latch-string, we resort to the speaking tube. Truly
customs have changed, and people, too. — Editor.

T77

m&s

JOW DEAR to my heart is the home of my

childhood,
A lonely log cabin, half -hidden from view;
Where I grew, like a weed, springing up in
the wild-wood,
And loved the rude home which had sprung up there,
too.
•The old lean-to kitchen, the smoke-house beside it;

The straw stack, with shelter of thatch covered o'er;
The ash-hopper near, where the wood-shed could
hide it;
And e'en the rude latch-string which hung on the
door.

The old-fashioned latch-string,
The brown, faded latch-string;

The long leather latch-string,
That hung on the door.

That latch-string, how often, when hungry and jaded,

I grasped it quite carefully, lest it should catch;
For I knew it was tender, as well as much faded,

So I pulled it down gently to lift up the latch.
The noon meal, when ready, how quickly I seized it —

A bowlful of mush, with sweet milk brimming o'er;
Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,

When I pulled the old latch-string to open the door.

The old-fashioned latch-string,
The brown, faded latch-string;

The long leather latch-string,
That hung on the door.

The shot-pouch I carried, methinks I still see it;
And the same striped squirrel that pestered my soul;

When I shouldered my flint-lock and hastened to tree it-
Alas ! it fled from me and hid in a hole.

The weedy old cow-yard, still fondly I view it,
And the path with the tall horse-nettles thickly
grown o'er;

How I scratched my bare feet every time I ran
through it,
To reach the old latch-string that hung on the door.

The old-fashioned latch-string,
The brown, faded latch-string;
The long leather latch-string,
That hung on the door.

And when far away I had strayed from that dwelling,
Returning, I hailed it with many a shout;

For I knew at a glance — 'twa3 a signal unfailing —
The folks were at home when the latch-string was out!

But they long since have faded, those dreams that I
cherished,
When barefoot I romped on the old puncheon floor;

And the clap-board roofed cabin itself, too, has vanished,
As well as the latch-string which hung on the door.

IThe old-fashioned latch-string,

The brown, faded latch-string;
The long leather latch-string,
That hung on the door.

The spring branch still runs at the foot of the meadow,

Where we cut the tall clover and pastured our flocks;
But that summer time flung over my young life a shadow,

For I hated to cradle and pile up the shocks.
But now, when removed from that loved situation,

The tear3 of regret will intrusively pour;
When fancy reverts to that loved habitation,

And sighs for the latch-string that hung on the door.

The old-fashioned latch-string,
The brown, faded latch-string;

The long leather latch-string,
That hung on the door.

*^f

fr^l

& '~A,

ARTHUR G. WHITTEMORE

J^eto IfampsJnre Ctatlroahs

By Gray Fairlee

"The old turnpike is a pike no more

Wide open stands the gate,
We've built us a road for our horses to stride,
And we ride at a flying rate."

^WHE half century following the close of the war for
'Uf , merican Independence may be called the stage-
^*^ coach era, and the ever popular and prominent
question before the people was the building of new roads
and the improvement of the facility for travel and moving
of merchandise. The waterways, the aboriginal courses of
travel, naturally became the maritime ways of transporta-
tion, but these served their purpose only in certain sec-
tions. Their lines of transit were too arbitrary to meet
the needs of the public at large.

In the closing years of the 18th century four great state
roads known as "turnpikes" were chartered and built at
considerable expense. These were satisfactory as far as
had been expected of them, but with all the outlay and
endeavor the journey to Boston, or any of the sea-port
towns then the magnet of business, was a tedious and
expensive undertaking.

In the midst of these earnest efforts toward bene-
fiting the inhabitants of the Granite State, a strange
whistle awoke the silence of the Merrimack valley and
proclaimed the coming of a new power which was to rele-
gate the jaded stage horse to the more peaceful pursuits
of life. The newcomer was the iron horse.

The first charter for a railway granted by the state
was that of the Boston & Ontario Railroad Company, Jan-
uary i, 1833, for a road starting from a point at or near the
line north of Dunstable and to run northerly and westerly

82 NEW HAMPSHIRE RAILROADS

to the valley of the Connecticut. The Nashua and Lowell
Railroad Corporation obtained a charter June 23, 1835,
running from the state line in the Merrimack valley north-
wardly to Nashua. The same session of the legislature
granted the Concord Railroad Corporation the right of
way for a railroad from Nashua, or any other southern
point, to connect the previous road with Concord, N. H.
Two other charters were granted on the same day, one to
the Keene Railroad Company to connect that town with
Rindge or Fitzwilliam in the direction of Worcester, Mass.
The third charter was for the Boston & Maine to cross the
state from the state line at Haverhill, Mass., to the Maine
border at South Berwick. Other grants followed these
rapidly, so it was not many years before the state was
crossed and cris-crossed with twin bands of iron.

There are now being operated in the state 1,190 miles
of railroad, all but 152 miles of which are under the man-
agement of the Boston & Maine system.

The importance of the railroads in New Hampshire
cannot be fully estimated in considering the many forms
of developments that have fallen to its material progress.
Their influence has been felt in every section. Whither
they have found their way population has gravitated.
Towns and villages that were few in the number of their
inhabitants and meagre in their usefulness have become
centers of industries. While wealth, like the currents of
our rivers, is attracted to the waterfalls, the source of
power, it was left for the railroads to foster the hum of
spindles, the rumble of looms, the tap of hammers, each
and all symbols of public prosperity. Where the iron
steed has not penetrated silence has fallen on the scene
and natural resources are left to waste. And not only do
our manufacturing and business interests depend on the
railroad for their welfare, but the portable mill of the most
remote lumberman, the summer home in the mountains,
the many industries of the state, all are affected by the
railroads. Nor are the advantages limited to the industrial

NEW HAMPSHIRE RAILROADS 83

world, for the moral and intellectual prosperity of a people
is governed largely by the methods employed to reach the
inhabitants, and from them come the modifications and
beauties of social life. So, with the changes that a little
over fifty years have wrought we cannot fail to appreciate
the prophecy of the poet when he exclaimed:

"The sunset of life gave him mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before."

In some respects the conduct of the railroad manage-
ment is the most rigid of any corporation in existence.
No other is required to make such frequent and exact
returns, and neither is there equal rigid censorship over
any other body. The annual reports of the railroad com-
missioners cover the history of the subject for the year.
It contains in carefully prepared statements the expenses
and receipts, the improvements and changes made, the
volume of business and the sources from whence it came,
the assets and liabilities, together with any other informa-
tion a credulous or curious person might desire to know.
The law governing the present board of commissioners
was enacted at the session of the legislature in 1883 and
was framed in the interest and prosperity of the state as
far as effected by the railroads.

The first railroad commissioner in the state was Hon.
Charles J. Fox of Nashua, appointed by the governor in
1838. He served in that capacity for five years, until he
was stricken with that illness which resulted in his death.
Commissioners continued to be appointed by the governor
and council to 1854, three each year after 1843. Beginning
with 1855 one commissioner was elected each year by the
people for a term of three years, until 1878, when they
were again appointed by the state executive for a term of
two years. In 1883 the term of office was extended to
three years, one member being appointed each year.

During the seventy-two years the commission has
existed it has been represented by sixty men. These have

$4 NEW HAMPSHIRE RAILROADS

been among the ablest in the state and very little criticism
has been made against the work performed by the various
boards. At the present time the members of the board
are all lawyers of acknowledged ability and honesty of
purpose. It would indeed be difficult to select three men
better fitted for the duties of this important service. It
has been the practice to have the minority party repre-
sented by one member, and this rule maintains now.

The oldest in point of service and the present chair-
man is

ARTHUR G. WHITTEMORE

Arthur Gilman Whittemore was born in Pembroke,
July 26, 1856, the son of Hon. Aaron and Ariannah
(Barstow) Whittemore. He was a great great grandson of
Rev. Aaron Whittemore, the first settled minister of the
Congregational church in Pembroke, who was ordained
March 1, 1737. His great grandfather, Aaron Whitte-
more, was a soldier of the revolutionary war, and his father
and grandfather were associate justices in the court of
common pleas for Merrimack county.

On his mother's side he is a lineal descendant of Elder
William Brewster, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Mr.
Whittemore was educated at Pembroke academy and the
Harvard law school and was admitted to the bar in March,
1879. He soon afterward became a law partner with
Judge C. W. Woodman of Dover, the partnership continu-
ing until Judge W T oodman's death in 1888, since which
time he has practiced alone with marked success.

In 1895 ne was appointed by the comptroller of the
currency receiver of the Dover National Bank, which was
wrecked by the defalcation of cashier Isaac F. Abbott*
and he so successfully liquidated the assets as to pay the
depositors in full, with interest, and a substantial dividend
to the stockholders. After the defalcation of Fred M.
Varney, cashier of the Somersworth National Bank, last

^a^AAifrVriif ■ ■**■>!,*&->,:

GEORGE E. BALES

^'^■W^^—^'rv-i" ■ ■' "■" ".'""■ ^-^ *~ ' ' ~ -TV-'-"."!".^? ;

OSCAR L. YOUNG

NEW HAMPSHIRE RAILROADS 85

December, he assisted the stockholders in successfully re-
organizing the bank. He has long been a director and a
trustee respectively of the StraffordNational and Strafford
Savings Banks.

Mr. Whittemore has been identified with all the public
enterprises promoting the welfare of his home city during
the past quarter of a century. When the city established
its system of water works, in 1887, he was elected a water
commissioner, and he was chairman of the board several
years, holding the position until his election, in 1900, as
mayor of Dover. His three successive terms as mayor
were epoch-making, in that they marked the establishment,
chiefly through his influence, of some of the most substan-
tial industries, and the securing of gifts from Andrew Car-
negie of a library building and from the Franklin academy
trustees of adjoining sites. for the library and present new
high school building. He was a member of the legislature
in 1903 and took an active part in its deliberations and was
a member of the judiciary committee.

In May, 1903, he was appointed a member of the New
Hampshire Railroad Commission, succeeding the late
Francis Faulkner of Keene, and in August last he was
appointed chairman of the Commission, succeeding the
late Henry M. Putney.

Mr. Whittemore married, June 27, 1887, Caroline B.
Rundlett of this city. They have two children, Manvel,
who is a sophomore at Dartmouth, and Caroline. Mrs.
Whittemore is prominent in local society having served
two years as president of the Dover Woman's Club.

GEORGE E. BALES

The second member of the board who was first ap-
pointed to succeed Edward B. S. Sanborn, of Franklin, No-
vember 30, 1903, and whose term will expire January 1, 1910,
is George Edward Bales, the only child of Charles A. and
Frances M. (Hardy) Bales, was born in Wilton, September

86 NEW HAMPSHIRE RAILROADS

14, 1862. His education was acquired in the public schools
of his native town, Francestown Academy and Phillips
Exeter Academy, graduating from the latter with the class
of 1883. Following a special course of one year at Har-
vard University, he attended the Boston University Law
School, from which he graduated in 1 888. He was admitted
to the bar in July, and immediately entered upon the prac-
tice of his chosen profession in Wilton, where he has con-
tinued to the present time with a marked degree of suceess.

Besides in his law practice he has been active in town
affairs, and held many positions of trust and honor. He
has been town treasurer and tax collector, a trustee of Will-
ton Public library, a moderator for twenty years, and was
a member of the school board for ten years. At the pres-
ent time he is police judge. Though a democrat in a town
that has a republican majority he was elected a representa-
tive to the state legislature in 1895 an ^ 1897, the last term
his party's candidate for speaker of the house. He had
the distinction of being the only democrat on the judiciary
committee during the session, and his able leadership of
his party won for him its confidence and support so that he
became the democratic nominee for congress at the follow-
ing national election. He was appointed a member of the
forestry commission, June 30, 1899, and re-appointed for a
second term, but declined the office, his appointment upon
the board of railroad commissioners coming to him the
succeeding November.

He is an attendant at the Unitarian Church, and is
one of its executive committee. He is a Mason, is past
master of Clinton Lodge, No. 52, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, of Wilton; is past high priest of King
Solomon Royal Arch Chapter, No. 17, of Milford; a mem-
ber of Israel Hunt Council, No. 8, Royal and Select Mas-
ters of Nashua; and of St. George Commandery, Knights
Templar, of Nashua, and Bektash Temple, Ancient Arabic
Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Concord. He is
now junior deacon of the Grand Lodge of the State of

NEW HAMPSHIRE RAILROADS 87

New Hampshire. He is a past grand patron of the Order
of the Eastern Star. He is also a member of Loyal Lodge,
No. 78, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Wilton and
of the Prospect Hill Encampment, No. 21, of Milford.
Also a member of the New Hampshire Veterans' Associ-
ation.

Mr. Bales married, October 16, 1889, Abbie M. French,
born in Wilton, March 16, 1865, daughter of Francis B.
and Frances C. (Howard) French, of Wilton. She is
prominent in social circles, and is vice-president of the
Woman's Alliance and past grand matron of the state,
Order of the Eastern Star. They have one child, Milly
Frances Bales, born February 6, 1893.

OSCAR L. YOUNG

The youngest member of the board, both in years and
point of service, who received his appointment at a meet-
ing of the governor and council, August 5, 1909, is Judge
Oscar L. Young, of Laconia. He was born in Ossipee,
September 11, 1874, the son of Timothy B. and Sarah I.
(Buzzell) Young. He attended the public schools of
Ossipee and Effingham, N. H., from which he went to
Brewster Free Academy, in Wolfboro, N. H., where he
was graduated in 1895.

At the close of his academical course he entered the
law office of Judge Sewell W. Abbott, of Wolfboro, apply-
ing himself industriously in his preparation for the career
he had mapped out for himself. In October, 1898, he
entered the Boston University Law School, where he was
graduated in June, 1900, with the degree of LL.B. Before
completing his work at the university, he was admitted to
the New Hampshire bar in March, of that year, and opened
a law office in Wolfboro the following July.

He continued his practice in Wolfboro a year. Believ-
ing he could improve his chances in a larger place, he moved
to Laconia, and became associated with Edwin H. Shan-

88 ROSES AND THORNS

non, of that city. In 1903 he continued the practice alone,
rapidly building up a large and lucrative law business. In
September, 1903, he was appointed judge of the Laconia
police court.

Always believing that a good citizen should take an
interest in political affairs, he rose rapidly in the confidence
and support of his party, and during the Campaign of 1908
he was Chairman of the Republican State Committee,
proving by his earnest and skillful management that he was
worthy of the trust.

During the hearing of the charges against the express
company in this state last year, when Mr. Putney, who had
served as chairman so long, was declared disqualified on
account of personal interests, Judge Young acted as a sub-
stitute on the board, showing by his conduct then his fit-
ness for the permanent position which came to him soon
after.

Judge Young has been active in fraternal circles, and
is a member of the Morning Star Lodge, No. 17, A. F. and
A. M., Wolfboro; Fidelity Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Wolf-
boro; Laconia Grange, Myrtle Rebekah Lodge, Wolfboro,
and Mount Washington Chapter, O. E. S., Laconia.

He was married July 11, 1909, to Miss Anna M. Paris
of Wolfboro.

The merriest heart that ever throbbed beats sometimes sorrow's strain,

The merriest lips that ever smiled are sometimes curved in pain;

The sunniest life that man can live a cloud will sometimes pall,

And brightest hopes, like autumn leaves, will sometimes fade and fall.

Old Theme Poems
ii

'■:?

T& Old Rifle"

The Old Rifle

By JAMES BUCKHAM

SJjT HUNG in the junk-shop in the lane,

t^|j Kf^jj A relic of Seventeen Seventy-four.
^4i@i': Blotched with rust and clinging stain,

Scarred with bruises half a-score

Full many a cruel knock, 'twas plain,
Had tried its stuff in days of yore.
Quaintly-patterned the well-worn stock,—
Best of grain from some rare old block. —
Curved at the butt like a crescent moon,
And silver-tipt like a kobold's shoon.
Shining patch-box of welded brass;
Trigger-guard worn smooth as glass;
Hammer wrought of the truest steel
Etched as fine as the hair-like mass
That floats away from a spider's reel.
Long of barrel, this ancient gun,
Smoothly bored for its ounce of lead,—
Threaded steel by a master spun,
Fired, and fined, till the maker said,
"Good! 'twill do for the King's own son,
Or best of rank that w r as ever bred."
Sighted well, with a silver bead
Lined to the clover-notch below;
Rifle fit for a prince indeed.
Pride of its maker, years ago!

Standing there, while the sunlight streamed
Over the sunlight on the wall —

Rare old gentleman, so he seemed,
Sadly out of his place withal—
Was it fancy, or was it fact.
That I heard him, sighing, say
With a mellow voice, but a trifle cracked: —
'I know what your pitying looks convey—
A strange place this, and a mournful day,
For an old-time swell of my calibre— eh?
Ah, too true! In the olden time
Praised and prized with the best was I,
Wiped with silk when they laid me by,
Polished down like a poet's rhyme!
Better score at the range was none.
True as star to its patch of sky,
Straight as sunbeam from the sun,
Sped my ball to the target's eye.
Many the leaping stag I slew,
Hurled him down to the grassy wold
Headlong, drenched with the morning dew,
Antlers ploughing the turf and mold.

"Then they carried me over the sea,
Brought me here to this goodly land,
Free as the air of heav'n is free,
Fairest isle by the Maker planned.
Foremost I in the line that stood,
Grim and staunch as a mountain wood,
Down by the Concord bridge, that day,
When the British soldiers turned away.
Under one of those mossy stones
Lies my ball in a Redcoat's bones!
Grander triumph, keener thrill,
Over those mounds at Bunker Hill!
How I flashed on that awful day!
Not a bullet I threw away.
Loud and clear from my master's cheek,
Death was the only word I'd speak.

Oh, 'twas glorious, till found
Fate had left us without a round!
Oft again did I shout and blaze
Freedom's name, in those stirring days.
Fame and honor enough, say I —
Would that a gun for a cause could die!"

Here he stopped and looked sadly round,
Looked at the scraps of brass and tin.
Pails from their rusty hoops unbound,
Kegs and tubs that had fallen in, —
All the worn-out things that drop
Into the grave of an old junk shop.

'Noble heirloom and rare!" cried I.
'Here no longer I'll let you lie!"
Purchased then for a goodly sum,
Proudly I carried the rifle home,
Cleaned and polished its brass and steel,
Scoured the silver on toe and heel,
Rubbed the stock till it shone as bright
As it did that day in the Concord fight.
No more battles and no more chase,
Only an honored past and place.
Leave to boast of them o'er and o'er,
While with eager and glad desire,
Like children clustered about their sire,
The modern rifles from rack and floor
List to the marvels of 'Seventy-four!

•.

./'

f ^ ""■

Drawn for Granite Statk Magazine by A. C. Gow, '09
CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY
Inventor of the Steamboat

'""

Capt. ^amuel M^ty

Who Built a Steamboat Fourteen Years Before Fulton
By Gabriel Farrell, Jr.

Coming at this time, when the minds of many are filled with the
admiration and applause felt for Robert Fulton as the inventor of the
steamboat, the following account of a more humble, yet more deserving,
inventor contains greater interest to all who have the love of the Granite
State in their hearts. While we are willing that New York's mechanic —
some higher title if you please — should receive a large meed of praise for
his successful application of steam power in propelling his boat, the
"Clermont," we do deplore the wholesale credit that his followers shower
upon him without qualification. In the words of another, "Had he com-
prehended the value of his own invention, and had he found such a
wealthy and powerful patron as Fulton found in Chancellor Livingston,
Samuel Morey and not Robert Fulton would be hailed as the father of
steam navigation." — Editor.

T THIS time, when New York is enthusiastic over the
invention of the steamboat and is doing its utmost to
pay tribute to Robert Fulton, whom history credits
with that important invention, other experimenters in that
line, aspiring to the honor of being the original inventor,
come to our knowledge. From the little town of Orford
New Hampshire, comes such a claim, and it is one which
appears to be sufficiently authenticated upon investigation.
It is claimed that Capt. Samuel Morey ran the first
steamboat upon the Connecticut River, at this point, in the
year 1793, which is fourteen years before the launching of
the "Clermont." Whatever may be the value of this
claim, the career of Captain Morey, as one of New Hamp-
shire's pioneer settlers, and as a man of wonderful invent-
ive genius far beyond his time, is an interesting narrative.
The first settlers in the town of Orford were John
Mann and his wife, who started from Hebron, Conn., Octo-

94 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY

ber 16, 1765. They made the journey in eight days, the
young wife on horseback, and her husband much of the
way on foot. About three months later, these pioneers of a
new settlement were followed by another family from
Hebron, consisting of Col. Israel Morey, his wife and sev-
eral children.

This journey of about two hundred miles was made in
the dead of winter — January, 1766 — with an ox team, the
wife carrying in her arms an infant six months old. What
a journey was that to be made at such a season, much of
it through a pathless forest, an unbroken wilderness.
From Charlestown to Orford, sixty miles, it is said that
there were no roads, only a footpath with marked trees for
guide posts.

The family settled in Orford, and during the Revolu-
tion the father was made general and commanded a body
of brave men upon the frontier. He was a man of great
mental force and soon became of much influence in that
vicinity. Among the children of this hardy and cour-
ageous pioneer was a boy four years of age, named Samuel.

From what can be learned of the every day walks of
the son Samuel, he seems to have inherited his father's
general characteristics and developed into a man of equal
force, of massive brain and mind, coupled with a splendid
talent for mechanical ideas and pursuits. The earlier days
of his life were passed within the limits of the township
of Orford, but for a few years previous to his death, in
1843, he lived in Fairiee, Vt., just across the waters of the
Connecticut, upon which he made his early experiments.

Morey possessed large tracts of land upon both sides
of the Connecticut. Fifteen hundred acres of it lay around
Fairiee pond. This tract was covered with large pines of
primitive growth, towering to the sky and as yet untouched
by the ax of man. He gave his attention largely to lum-
bering, and during the winter he employed many men and
oxen, drawing this timber to the Connecticut River.

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 95

A considerable portion of this territory was inaccessi-
ble except to men. Teams were entirely out of the ques-
tion, so in order to secure the timber from the remote, lofty
sections, Morey constructed large log slides. Down these
the great pines were shot during the winter, ever increasing
in speed until they finally landed at their destination, the
shore of the pond. A canal was cut from the pond to the
Connecticut River, for the transfer of these logs. Por-
tions of this slide can still be seen on some of the hillsides
and traces of the canal are still visible to visitors.

Aside from his lumbering business, Captain Morey
was interested in irrigation, and in the pioneer interests of
the day. When the series of locks on the Connecticut
River were built from Windsor, Conn., to Olcott Falls, he
had charge of some of these, notably those at Bellows
Falls, Vt., which were the result of his skillful planning
and engineering.

About 1780 he began to devote considerable of his time
to matters of steam, heat and light, continuing until 1820
or later, making many experiments, some successful and
others not. As a result he invented quite early in his
career an apparatus by which the steam escaping from a
teakettle was made to do service in turning a spit, the
appliance receiving the local name of "steam spit."

While these experiments were in progress Morey cor-
responded quite frequently with Professor Silliman of Yale
College, contributing several articles upon the subjects
uppermost in his thoughts, to the "Journal of Science and
Arts." One article in particular, which appeared in the
first volume of that journal, describes an apparatus for
producing light and heat from steam and tar, and of this
Professor Silliman says:

"The inventor, not unskilled in chemistry, and aware
of the attraction of oxygen for carbon, conceived it practi-
cal to convert the constituents of water into fuel by means
of its affinity."

90 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY

He succeeded in producing hydrogen carburetted gas,
which, issuing from a pipe and being ignited, gave a blaze
from the size of a candle to many hundred times larger, vary-
ing at pleasure, showing by his simple apparatus that the
burning of water was no hoax, but a reality. Among
many valuable papers in the possession of Mr. Leonard
Willard, a great grandson of the captain, now residing
in Orford, is an old paper fully describing this method of
producing light by the use of water and tar. The appara-
tus described and the results obtained are very similar to
those now common on automobile searchlights, in which
calcium carbide and water are utilized.

Among these papers are many interesting business
letters and documents of Captain Morey, besides a large
number of family letters that give interesting descriptions
of events of those early days. In possession of various
members of the family are patents granted to the inventor
signed by presidents from Washington to Jackson.

The first of these, dated on January 29, 1793, bears,
in addition to the large, handsome flourish of the
father of his country, the bold signature of Thomas
Jefferson, then secretary of state. The invention was for
a turning spit to be operated by steam. The next bears the
signature of John Adams (1799) for an improvement of
Morey's new water engine. One dated Washington, Novem-
ber 13, 1800, is signed by Adams and Lee. In 1815, July
14, Morey took out two patents signed by James Madison,
president, and James Monroe, secretary of state, for tide
and water wheels. December 11, 1817, J. Q. Adams, sec-
retary of state, and William West, attorney-general, signed
a patent for an apparatus for securing heat by burning
water, called the American Waterburner.

On April 1, 1826, Morey took a patent for a gas or
vapor engine, signed by J. O. Adams, with Henry Clay as
secretary of state. The last of these, in 1823, was signed
by Andrew Jackson. The one intended to cover his

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 97

steamboat is in the rooms of the Historical Society of New
Hampshire, and was issued in 1795.

Early in his experimental career,Captain Morey was per-
suaded that the power of steam could be applied to propel-
ling boats by means of paddle-wheels. He therefore set him-
self to the task of inventing a boat to be thus propelled by
steam. He made the boat, built the steam engine, put in the
necessary machinery and made his first trip with complete
success, running several miles from Orford up the Connecti-
cut River and returning at the rate of four miles per hour.
This was as early as 1793, at least fourteen years before
Fulton's trial trip in the "Clermont" up the Hudson, and
nine years before his first trial boat constructed in France.

It is doubtful whether Fulton had turned his thoughts
to the subject of steamboats before this time. This very
year, 1793, is the first mention of this subject in connec-
tion with Fulton that is known. Dr. Renwick, in his life
of Fulton, mentions that he laid a scheme relating to
steam navigation before Earl Stanhope, in a letter dated
September 30, 1793. Another writer says, "Robert Fulton
had thought of steam as a motive power for vessels as
early as 1793." But it is very certain from all accounts
that he devoted his energies to other subjects and to other
plans until 1793 and later.

There is what appears to be conclusive evidence that
Captain Morey, encouraged by Professor Silliman of Yale,
went to New York with the model of his boat, and had
frequent interviews with Fulton and Chancellor Living-
ston, before they had invented and put in operation the
"Clermont." Morey was cordially received by them and
treated with great respect and attention. While at New
York they suggested to him some improvements in the
construction of his boat, and it is even stated that they
offered him for his invention seven thousand dollars if he
would return home and make the alterations suggested, so
as to operate favorably. These operations he made with
entire success, and again repaired to New York, but his

::t

98 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY

metropolitan friends treated him with such coldness and
indifference as to clearly indicate that they desired no
further intercourse with him. It is stated by adherents of
Morey that Fulton and Livingston, seeing the model of
Morey and thus acquiring his ideas, had accomplished their
purpose and now were through with the backwoodsman.
If these statements, made upon what appears to be compe-
tent authority, are true, his treatment by Fulton and Liv-
ingston was anything but creditable to them.

Yet the proof appears quite positive and from a
variety of sources that he made frequent trips up the Con-
necticut in his little boat at that time. But as he was so
far from leading scientific men and the best mechanical
skill, the result was that Fulton, aided by the wealth of others
and the influence of friends, finally succeeded in building,
shortly after the captain's visit, a large boat upon the very
principle of Morey's, namely, paddle-wheels. This has
given him the credit of bringing into successful operation
this important invention, while the real inventor being a
man in obscure life and living far back from the great
metropolis has passed into such obscurity as to be wholly
unknown to fame.

It is only justice to Mr. Fulton to say that he was the
first man, that is, in connection with Chancellor Livingston
and by the aid of Livingston's money, to make a practical
business success of the steamboat. He did build a boat
which was successfully propelled by steam by means of
paddle-wheels, and he is, perhaps, properly called the father
of Amercan steamboat navigation. But he cannot truth-
fully claim credit as the first man to operate a steamboat.

The original model of Morey's engine, and the one
that is thought to have been shown to Fulton at this time,
is in the possession of the Vermont Historical Society.
The engine is in good working order, although the copper
boiler, of ingenious structure, has suffered explosion. The
model is a rotary engine, balanced on a disk one and one-
eighth inches in diameter. The disk is attached to a tube

■e

■fe-

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREV 99

connecting the boiler, and in it are two openings, one-
half by one-eighth inch, one connected with the boiler, as
mentioned above, the other opening in the air. This forms
the valve seat. The valve consists of a second disk, with
corresponding openings, fitting exactly upon the surface of
the first disk, and from the two openings in this upper disk
are tubes leading to the extremities of the cylinder. The
piston rod is attached to a stationary crank in the center of
the machine. The outward and inward movements of the
piston cause the revolution of the upper disk, cylinder, etc.,
upon the lower disk; thus bringing the valves or openings in
the upper disk, alternately over the steam tube and the
escape opening of the lower disk. The entire length of the
machine is 6 1-2 inches. The cylinder, which is of brass,
is 1 15-16 inches in length and 1 1-2 inches in diameter.
the length of stroke is 1 3-16 inches. The piston, which is
of cast iron, is 1 3-8 inches in diameter, with a groove on the
edge in which twine is used for packing. The piston rod
plays on friction rollers.

A letter written in 18 18, by Samuel Morey to William
A. Duer, is most interesting, and gives Morey's own
account of his experience. Mr. Duer was a prominent
member of the New York legislature. The letter was
called forth in connection with the grant of exclusive right
to navigate the waters of New York, which was bestowed
by the state on Livingston.

Among other documentary proof is a letter written
about 1850 by Mr. George A. Morey of Fairlee, Vt., a
gentleman of the highest respectability, and a nephew of
Captain Morey, who well remembered the story, as fre-
quently told by Captain Morey and others who saw the
boat when first built. From this letter the following
abstract is taken:

"It is and always has been claimed here, that he was
the inventor of the steamboat instead of Fulton. Be that
as it may, Fulton saw two of his models before he took a
patent; and he (Morey) took two or three patents for the

100 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY

application of steam before Fulton took any. And then
Fulton took one for the application of steam to boats, and
that, after he had seen both models of Morey."

The most reliable account of Morey's experiments and
claim to having made the first application of steam to navi-
gation and the first practical steamboat, was made and pub-
lished about 1854 by the Rev. Cyrus Mann. Rev. Mr.
Mann was the son of the original settler and founder of
Orford. He died in 1859 at the age of seventy-three years.
Mr. Mann was an educated man, and of the strictest intesr-
rity, and is reputed to have spent considerable time and
research in the investigation of the respective claims of
Fulton, Morey and others, to the credit and honor of a
practical success in steam navigation. The following is an
abstract from his account of it:

"The credit of the original invention of the steamboat
is commonly awarded to Robert Fulton, but it is believed
that it belongs primarily and chiefly to a far more obscure
individual. So far as it is known, the first steamboat ever
seen on the waters of America was invented by Capt.
Samuel Morey, of Orford, N. H. The astonishing sight
of this man ascending Connecticut River, between that
place and Fairlee, in a little boat just big enough to con-
tain himself, and the rude machinery connected with the
steam boiler, and a handful of wood for a fire, was wit-
nessed by the writer in his boyhood, and by others who yet
survive. This was as early as 1793 or earlier, and before
Fulton's name had ever been mentioned in connection with
steam navigation."

These statements are further corroborated by the Rev.
Joel Mann, a brother of the writer of the above, in his
centennial oration at Orford, delivered September 7, 1865.
He says:

"If I am not mistaken, Fulton obtained his first idea
of such a vessel from Morey, and secured a patent just as
Morey had secured, or was preparing to secure, one for him-
self. Certain it is that the first boat moved by steam was

wM&j&j:-*

festl

-s%£&

Drawn for Granite State Magazine by A. C. Govv, '09

OLD MOREY HOMESTEAD AT ORFORD

WW1

Lit fw:i &::■.'&%*

itm:m

v iff tyu -t#p

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 101

a little thing constructed by him, and its trial trip was on
this river, opposite this village. The trial was made on a
Sabbath, when the people were at meeting, to avoid notice,
when he, with a brother of mine, passed up in it to where
the bridge now is, for it was important to ascertain whether
it would go against the current as well as with it.

"My brother, Cyrus, a few years ago, collected and
published the proofs of the fact that Morey was the real
inventor of the steamboat, so far at least as steam could be
applied to the propelling of such a craft. Had our ingen-
ious townsman lived in Boston or New York, where his
facilities for constructing and making improvements would
have been such as he needed, he would now probably be
acknowledged as the projector of those floating palaces
which are crossing the ocean and visiting the remotest por-
tions of the world."

A letter written by a prominent gentleman in St. Johns-
bury, Vt., and published in a Boston paper in 1874, says:

"I am inclined to believe that the state of New Hamp-
shire and the town of Orford are entitled to the honor and
the claim of the man who first applied steam to navigation on
American waters. I remember when a boy of hearing old
settlers of Orford tell about Captain Morey's steamboat
and how it ran on the Connecticut River. Captain Morey
was a man of remarkable inventive genius, and among
other strange things, he told the good people of the town
that some day he should take a ride on the river in a steam-
boat. They, of course, were faithless and only laughed at
his project. But he persevered and constructed the first
steamboat, probably, that ever rode upon river or sea. It
was a rude affair for a steamboat, but it proved successful.

"Captain Morey made his first experimental trip on
Sunday, during the hours of religious service, when the
people were at church. He chose this time so that nobody
should see him in case of failure. The people went to
meeting those days. On a quiet Sunday, not far either
way from 1790, this notable man with his rude craft,

102 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY

steamed up the river between Fairlee and Orford, entirely
alone (this is probably a mistake), and on the following day
announced his triumph to the astonished people. Honor
to whom honor is due! Soon after this Fulton consulted
with Morey, and so did others, and ere long a steamboat
was launched on the Hudson, and steam navigation, one of
the modern wonders, became a practical fact."

But this first boat in 1793 was not the only experiment
of Captain Morey, for about 1S20 another boat came into
existence on Fairlee Lake. This, the people about there
say is the original boat, but the description of it in the
possession of the Vermont Historical Society hardly corre-
sponds with that of the earlier craft. The boat is described
as follows: A large boat, fully twenty feet in length,
painted white, with red streak and black gunwale, called
"Aunt Sally." It has also been thought that the engine
propelling this boat was the original, which was copied by
Fulton.

The "Aunt Sally" was sunk in 1821, by enemies of
Captain Morey, it is said. Many assert that the object
of this was to destroy all evidence which might point to a
successful steamboat earlier than Fulton's. About 1874
the Vermont Historical Society sent a committee to Fairlee
to try and find the boat and to ascertain if the engine
was the original one and, if so, to preserve it as a historical
relic. Owing to insufficient apparatus, their search
amounted to naught.

That the ingenious inventor can also place a claim on
being the first to run an internal combustion motor boat is
strong in the mind of the writer. It is known that on
April 1, 1826, Morey took out a patent on a gas or vapor
engine. The success or failure of this has never been
accounted for hitherto, but the recent discovery by the
writer, of a letter, among the papers in the family posses-
sion, gives a description of a boat and its propelling power
used in 1829. It also shows that the captain was not to be

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 103

satisfied with a motor boat, but bad higher aspirations — to
apply the power to a carriage. The letter is as follows:

Messrs. Rush aud Muhlenburg:

Dear Sir: — Perhaps I ought to have written sooner, but with all my
exertions, and they have been as important as they ever were with you, I
could not perfect, to my mind, the application of the "new power" to a
boat until within two weeks. It will now run as regular as any that are
driven with steam, and with very little expense. The boat is about nine-
teen feet long, 5^ wide and the engine occupies only about eighteen inches
of the stern, and sometimes goes between 7 and S miles per hour.
The same engine may unquestionably, when in better hands, be made
to drive one, properly constructed, of v twice the capacity, at least ten. Its
application to stationary purposes I perfected last winter. Throughout
the whole time I have been constantly perfecting the engine.

I expect to leave here in two or three days for home to arrange my
business for winter, and if possible to collect some money for you and
Mr. Garrett, as well as some for myself, which I could do were there any in
the country, as I have more than £3,000 of salable personal property and
good debts. But whether I get any or not, you may expect to see me next
month, if I am alive and well as usual. I have the engine already packed
up to be put with the mails on board a Packet, as soon as I can get ready
to start from home. Have been inclined to think I should send it to
Baltimore in the first instance, but shall postpone entirely anything
further. When I have the pleasure to see you I hope to learn what will
be the best course to be taken.

It remains for me to have the engine applied to a carriage on a rail,
road, and when that is done, I should think I have done my part. I can
but hope and trust the ensuing winter will see the engine well applied to
a carriage on a railroad. With sentiments of the greatest esteem and
friendship, I am dear Sirs, as ever,

Yours,

SAM' MOREY.
Sept., 1829. '

"It now runs as regular as any that are driven with
steam." Doesn't that sound like a gas engine? Boat
owners will agree.

<8o£tf)en

By A. W. and W. R. Nelson

j-r^k EARLY surrounded by the forest-clad mountains
4| xy of Washington and Sunapee, its fields and forests
S^ divided by narrow highways and winding streams

with an occasional farm-house stuck in here and there, and
over all a stillness which to the city man is almost oppres-
sive, being broken only occasionally by the far away
tinkling of a cow bell, the cawing of a crow or the baying
of a fox hound, lies the quiet unassuming town of Goshen,
the home of true, honest, and hard working men and
women, who have done much toward the making of this
century. Where can we find a better type of American
citizens than in our New England country towns these
people whose ancestors more than one hundred and fifty
years ago came up from the coast and hewed a place for
themselves in the forest primeval.

EARLY SETTLEMENT

Through the years closely following 1750 a general
exodus seems to have taken place from the New Hamp-
shire tide water inland, many of the Connecticut valley
towns being founded at this period.

The first settlement was made in Goshen in 1769.
That year three young men, Capt. Benjamin Rand, Daniel
Grindle and William Lang, two of them at least unmarried,
came from Portsmouth, locating on the wedge of land
belonging to the grant of Sunapee the year before. So
the credit of this settlement might have belonged to
Sunapee, her actual founder coming from Rhode Island
two years later.

From somewhat contradictory dates it appears that
these three men toiled each alone in his little clearing for

104

GOSHEN 105

ten or fifteen years. Finally, in 1780, Daniel Grindle
brought home as his bride a Kingston lady, Elizabeth
Tandy, or "Aunt Betty"' as she was better known. Cap-
tain Rand was evidently married some years later. By this
time cabins had been built and the forest opened away
around them, the settlers supposing their hardest times to
be past.

The Grindles and Langs were within a short distance
of each other, Grindle near Mrs. Hiram Thissell's home-
stead and Lang a quarter of a mile to the east. Captain
Rand, however, had been at once captivated by the spark-
ling sheet of water now bearing his name, "Rand's Pond,"
and located on the hillside that slopes up from its northern
shore. He chose this elevation both because of its health-
fulness and the accepted fact that a hard wood clearing
raised better crops than soft wood land.

The cabin of logs stood on a rounding knoll thirty
rods southwest of the dwelling now occupied by Delos
Jones and faced eastward. Its dimensions are still to be
seen plainly marked out around a shallow, unwalled cellar
by an underpinning of common field stones. A cold
spring was but a few steps from the door. The barn, built
after the first few years of hardship were over, stood a
little way below; while at an equal distance beyond the
barn, Captain Rand placed a blacksmith-shop where later
his livelihood was principally made.

With families dependent upon them the tillage-plots
proved frequently unequal to the burden. Because of the
newness of the soil and the damp, unbroken forest sur-
rounding, early frosts troubled the little settlement exceed-
ingly* the crops of corn being often entirely destroyed.
Nothing but blazed trails through the forest were found
until near the Connecticut River. At times supplies had
to be brought in on the backs of those pioneers from Wal-
pole and Charlestown. Captain Rand, it is said, took one
hundred and twenty pounds of corn at a time, a distance
of from twenty to thirty miles.

106 GOSHEN

One autumn Mrs. Rand and her little boy gathered
and dried a great quantity of wild woodvines upon which
to feed their one cow. Aunt Betty Grindle, too, salted
down three large butter-firkins of red-squirrel meat for
winter use.

Daniel Grindle was a carpenter and mason by trade
and, finding the means of support somewhat scanty, he
returned several summers to work in Portsmouth, leaving
his wife sole guardian of the clearing. Upon one of these
lonely evenings, her husband being absent, a bear
attempted to carry off their pig. The pig-pen, behind the
cabin, was stoutly constructed and before Bruin had gained
entrance Aunt Betty arrived upon the scene. She had
thrown a white sheet loosely about her shoulders and with
the flapping of this, aided by her lusty screams, the bear
was put to sudden and complete rout.

Once more Aunt Betty had to face discomfort bravely
when, alone as before, her provisions ran short. There
was plenty of corn on the ear and finally, when she could
put it off" no longer, for she had never driven an ox-team,
she loaded the ox-cart with corn, yoked a pair of wild,
young steers and started for the grist-mill at Charlestown.
An irregular road had been cut through by this time to
Charlestown, then the county-seat. When the road was
plainly defined she rode on the cart, but upon nearing open
meadows or grassy stretches, she would walk along ahead
of the steers, coaxing them after her with corn-nubbins
given at judicious intervals. In this manner Aunt Betty
passed the day and late in the evening turned in at a
friend's gate.

The house was dark and without arousing its inmates
she got her oxen into the barn and fed them. She slept
all night upon a hay-mow. Breakfasting with her friends,
in the farm-house she was soon upon her way again, reach-
ing the mill and returning home with her grist in safety.

Despite all hardships, or because of them, Aunt Betty
Grindle lived to a ripe old age of 104 years, passing away

GOSHEN 107

at the home of a grandson, Samuel Burnham, at Goshen
Corners. She is remembered by many as a little, old
white-haired lady who saw the founding of the town.

Seven children were born to Benjamin Rand and
"Temperance, his wife," the eldest, Azrien(?) Rand, being
born December 23, 1789. Captain Rand died at an age of
eighty years and was buried upon his own farm, on the
southerly hill slope, thirty rods below the old cabin. Some
twenty-five settlers had already found burial there and
Mrs. Rand soon followed her husband, rough fragments of
slate marking head and foot of each grave, without wording
to tell who lies beneath.

A pitiable fate overtook the neighbor, William Lang.
Insanity, which was continued through two generations
following, appeared in a violent form and he passed his
last years in close confinement, so dangerous that keepers
came no nearer than to slide in food and throw him straw
to sleep upon.

Mrs. Lang, too, came upon the town for support and
in 181 1, as the custom then was, one Robert Lear bid off
the unfortunate couple at vendue, to support one year for
$79. The old man died during that year and then "the
Widow Lang" was sold into service for $1.28 a month, her
one cow and the use of the farm belonging to her pur-
chaser. Such was the irony of fate that these early
pioneers should suffer an ignominious end.

THE CROYDON TURNPIKE

A corporation known as the Croydon Turnpike Co.
built and maintained the highway which extended from
Lebanon to Washington through Croydon, Newport and
Goshen, connecting with other roads which made it the
direct route from the central Connecticut valley to Boston.
In the year 1802 the town of Goshen voted to take thirty
shares at $10 a share, in the Croydon turnpike if it would
be built through the town; but it was not completed until
1806. Alfred Booth worked upon the turnpike at its build-

108 GOSHEN

ing, being then a youug man. Day after day, he said, the
construction forces pushed along, grading away banks, and
"corduroying" marshes with logs that have been contin-
ually appearing in the roadway since. One day he with
one companion put SIXTY oxcart loads of dirt onto these
felled logs within ten hours.

Every autumn witnessed the traffic in produce bound
for Boston markets. Soon the date for starting became
generally established and as the time drew near teams
began their journey southward, picking up others at every
branch-road until a string of twenty teams, from four to
eight horse, might have been collected before reaching
Goshen. Thirty teams a day were frequently counted in
the early years by Grandmother McCrillis, while her hus-
band, John, would work at his blacksmith's forge till eleven
o'clock at night; then be up and at it again at two the next
morning.

Toll-gates were established along the course of the
turnpike to defray cost of maintenance, but naturally did
not prove popular, although the toll exacted was but two
cents, pedestrians free. The Goshen toll-gate was first
placed on the hill above the old Allen tavern in Newport.
But in 1830 it had been moved into Goshen proper to the
E. S. Robinson place. Here Daniel Emerson lived and
kept the gate till the overthrow of private ownership of
the road. The posts of the toll-gate were frequently bored
off at night and carried away bodily, and more often was
the obstructing pole thrown down by indignant travelers.
It is said that in the last years many light teams went up
and around through East Unity and so down onto the turn-
pike to avoid paying toll.

Without taverns the turnpike would have been well-
nigh impassable, for, it is said, more than five miles
between taverns obliged teamsters to take a bottle.

Liquor agents and taverners were appointed by the
selectmen each year.

A SUGAR CAMP

VIEWS IN GOSHEN, N. H

>•!/;/ \,*

mi r h i

TOWN HALL, MILL VILLAGE, N. H.

l&:~. r j~- ; gasswg

■; ■• ;. as •■■ — _i»:

RAND'S POND

|g J ^

I j y i 1 o i ;i-j
] a i i e s i , i :

.^^

HrE^* iinr >^'»'~ v ^"«**- : --'rf^ , '.i^'-«~f'*s«-'

£i^.^**-iS 4: *i

Gsk

THE OLD UNION CHURCH, NOW DESTROYED

X.-

SaawWnq

II PI
I n

lr-

u •

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

GRANGE HALL, MILL VILLAGE, N. II.

' • aggp^p^/Tsr^i

- ,„-^r^-r-'. ;,

",^*— "yf , ". ■> ;

" -■ "'-.

"&$* 3

- . • ■

;J*3

'H-

."■ ' '•-*

■■■■%*

*■"

■

■■"

'■' »

.'•--.

■i:

.-. 1

"•

.-•■

■■•.**■>. ;■

■ ■• • .

V '

:.' •" ■-■■-, -m.: -

. . .

J: .

- ^"v

GOSHEN 109

The first license was granted Capt Amos Hall, Feb-
ruary 9, 1793, "to sell or retail spiritous liquors of all
kinds, by a larger or smaller quantity, for one year." Cap-
tain Hall was also appointed taverner in the early spring

of 1795-

For many years two taverns were kept in town, one at
Mill Village and the other at Goshen Corner.

The old Trow Tavern at Goshen Corner was built
probably about 1S06 by one Calvin Farnsworth, who came
to this town from Washington. It was situated a few rods
south of the present post-office building at the Corners,
facing westerly to the turnpike, only its lilac-screened
cellars now remaining to mark the spot. Captain Trow
was its last landlord. Then for many years it stood vacant,
until a gale in February, 1878, a part of the roof was blown
off, causing it to be demolished the following summer.

But as the town grew and its people prospered not
only were turnpikes and taverns built and maintained, but
also schools and churches of which the good people were
justly proud. John Towne of Newport wrote in 1888,
mentioning this fact:

"To Goshen Corners I did go,

Where the wind was fresh and cooling
And the good people there I found
Believed in thorough schooling."

In the early days of the "Line School-house," so
styled because it was built upon the bound between Goshen
and Newport, it was quite the custom to throw out unpop-
ular teachers. One winter term three masters had been
thus served and in desperation the school-committee hired
Lemuel P. Cooper of Croydon to complete the term merely
giving notice that school would begin again Monday.
Cooper was then a young man, standing six feet three
inches in height, and the champion wrestler of the county.
At one time he was strongly supported for governor by the
Labor Reform party. Monday morning came and a boy
was chopping wood in front of the schoolhouse when a tall
stranger approached and asked, "School keeping now?"

110 GOSHEN

The boy replied that it was. "We've thrown out three
masters and a new one is coming to-day — we don't know
who," he explained."

"Well now, that is a joke. Going to throw out the
new master?" the stranger inquired.

If they didn't like him they would and might anyway;
they had a plan the boy hinted. So the two talked on and
the stranger decided to stop and see the fun.

Scholars began to come and still the new master had
not appeared. Talk about him and the new plan ran freely,
in which the stranger joined. At one minute of the
school-hour the tall stranger stepped up to the teacher's
desk, then turning quickly and whipping out a ruler like a
small club, he banged it upon the desk before him and
thundered out, "Come to order! I am your master."

He was Lemuel P. Cooper and, needless to say, a more
peaceful term of school was never taught.

The Congregational Church was the first religious
society formed in town. The church was organized Feb-
ruary 23, 1802, with nineteen members.

The Baptist church was organized at the home of
Deacon Parker Tandy, October 12, 1803, with thirteen
constituent members.

In December, 1850, Rev. Eleazer D. Farr of Hartford,
Vt., then missionary in Lowell, Mass., visited the church,
found a membership of but twenty-one, and decided to
accept the pastorate. During the first year of his labors
he caused the erection of the present church edifice (1851),
traveling throughout this state and Massachusetts solicit-
ing funds for its building. He assumed all expense in his
own name, worked with his carpenters, draughted the plans
for the house himself, and November 12 it was dedicated
free of debt, although built at a cost of $1,095.

The Olive G. Pettis Free Library was established Jan-
uary 1, 1890, by the gift of 450 bound volumes, from Mrs.
Sarah H. Deming, who so named it in memory of her
mother, and this fine library to which many volumes

GOSHEN 111

have been added each year was placed last November in a
handsome new library building, built by public subscrip-
tion and fittingly dedicated.

Goshen has a War Record of which to be proud hay-
ing sent seven to the Revolution, and at least one in 1812.
When the call came in 1861 she outdid all previous records
by sending 58 brave soldiers to the front from her meagre
supply of young men.

The town also furnished four in the Spanish-American
War.

GOSHEN OF TO-DAY

The population in 1900 was 345. The Town Report
for the year ending February 15, 1908, begins thus:

Valuation of improved and unimproved land and build-
ings £111,390, Number of horses, 139; cows 214, sheep
145. Stock in trade $6,946.

The 1908 town report also shows the town to be an
excellent health resort and this item should not be over-
looked by the vacationist.

Report of Board of Health

"No contagious diseases during the year and only one
death from tuberculosis," and in the vital statistics we find
only eight deaths registered from all causes. This alone
should be a good advertisement for our summer hotel pro-
prietors to display and it is not to be wondered at that the
business is rapidly growing. Mr. S. C. Winter at the vil-
lage Mr. Lew Bowl by at the "Corners" and Mr. Thissell
near Rand's Pond, all having full houses the whole
summer long.

Farming is the principal occupation. Corn and pota-
toes constitute the main crops, little grain being raised and
that for stock-feeding. Of stock, cows are accounted the
most profitable, fresh milk being sold to Whiting of Boston.
Poultry raising proves profitable also, some large flocks of
turkeys, ducks, geese and chickens being raised each year

112 GOSHEN

and dressed and shipped to Massachusetts every fall in
time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas trade. Among
the most successful of these poultry raisers are such as
John Pike, noted for his large and brown eggs, John
Gocha, E. W. Pike, Miss Pettis, Mrs. Whipple, Burke
Booth, Fred Pike and The Nelsons, whose large flocks of
tnrkeys are of much interest to the visitor.

A large quantity of first-rate maple syrup is produced
each season, which readily brings a high price in the mar-
kets, and in a good season many a farmer clears one hun-
dred dollars above all expenses for his one month's hard
work of wallowing in the snow, tapping his trees, gather-
ing the sap and washing the buckets.

Mr. O. E. Farr is one of Goshen's largest maple
syrup producers having a suberb sugar orchard of two
thousand trees, from which he makes several hundred gal-
lons of syrup each year.

For the last forty years perhaps there has been a
steady exodus of the young people from the farm to the
city. As soon as they became old enough to choose for
themselves, the artificial life, the alleged plentifulness of
money and in some instances the real advantages of the
city drew the young men and women away from the old
farm, but the tide has already begun to set back and in
closing as we sum it all up we find houses all occupied —
buildings being built repaired, remodeled, repainted — fresh-
ening animation in business and all society work. These
are encouraging signs of the time.

Ctefe. ^attfjeto Clark

By Marian Douglas

This divine came to Londonderry. N. H., in 1729, soon after the
decease of Rev. James McGregor, marrying for his third wife the widow
of the latter clergyman. Though never settled as minister over that
church he supplied the pulpit here for over six years, and until his death,
January 25. 1735, in his seventy-sixth year.

He was an active, earnest worker both in the church and out of it.
He had served as an officer in the Protestant army during the siege of
Londonderry, Ire., and was wounded by a ball grazing his right temple.
This wound never healed and he wore a black patch over it, which shows
in his" portrait. Something of the military spirit he had imbibed in his
earlier life seemed to have followed him in his later years, for it is related
that once while serving as moderator of a church meeting the martial
music of a training band interrupted his duties. Upon being reminded of
his inattention to business he replied: "Nae business while I hear the toot
o' the drum."

During divine service one Sabbath a young British officer clad in
bright uniform, of which he evidently felt very proud, entered the church
and after passing up the centre aisle remained standing, while he was the
object of every gaze, no doubt feeling that he was creating a good amount
of admiration; especially from the young ladies of the congregation.
Seeing the attention of his audience taken up in this manner, Mr. Clark
paused in the midst of his sermon, saying; "Ye are a brave lad, ye have
a brave suit o' clothes, and we ha'e a' seen them; ye may sit doun." This
completely vanquished the young soldier, and he immediately became less
conspicuous. — Editor.

Fresh leaves glisten in the sun,
And the air is soft and clear;
Tis the spring-tide of the year

Of our Lord
Seventeen hundred thirty-one.
T is the robin's wedding-time,
And a breath of plum and cherry,
Makes the air of Londonderry
Sweet as Eden in its prime.
113

114 FEV. MATTHEW CLARK

On the road the shadow falls

Of the Reverend Matthew Clark *

Man of prayer and man of mark,

Out to-day,
Making some parochial calls,
Keeper of the village fold,
Seventy years he's seen already;
Still his step is firm and steady,
And his eye is keen and bold.

Neither wrong nor vice he spares;

Not alone the pastoral crook,

But the smooth stones from the brook.

Close at hand,
And the ready sling he bears;
And, if any go astray,
He is not afaid to use them; —
Better wound his flock than lose them
Blindly wandering away.

Hopeful for the days to be,
Forward all his dreams are cast,
But his memories of the past,

One and all,
Lie in lands beyond the sea;
For, but lately, from abroad,,
To light up the Deny weavers,
Honest men and true believers,
Came this "candle of the Lord."

Matching well his dauntless mien,
On his temple is a scar,
(You can see it just as far
As his wig

•Rer. Matthew Clark was the second minister of Londomderry,

REV. MATTHEW CLARK 115

Or the man himself is seen.)

Bravely won, when, Heaven's own liege,

'Mid the groans of starved and dying,

He had fought, on God relying,

In the Londonderry siege.

Still that memory remains;
And a sound of martial strife,
Beat of drum or shriek of fife,

Makes the blood
Thrill and tingle in his veins;
And his heart grows young again,
Thinking of the vanished glory
Of those days renowned in story,
Days of triumph and of pain,

When, his cold breath on each brow,
Brave men, without doubt or dread,
Looked in death's stern eyes and said.

Gravely firm,
"We are stronger far than thou!
Friends of Truth and foes of Guilt,
Wounded, starving, fainting, breathless,
We are God's, and God is deathless —
Take us, leave us; as thou wilt!"

But, to-day, the air of spring
Breathes around a peaceful calm,
And his thoughts are like a psalm,

"Praise to God! v
Sung by Israel's shepherd king;
And around him Fancy paints
Here the building rod of Aaron,
There the mystic rose of Sharon
And the lilies of the saints.

116 CHILDHOOD DAYS

And the wind that softly steals
From the orchard trees in bloom,
Laden with their sweet perfume.

Seems to him
Blowing from celestial fields.
Priest and teacher of the town,
Long as stands good Londonderry,
With its stories sad and merry,
Shall thy name be handed down
As a man of prayer and mark,
Grave and reverend Matthew Clark!

Cfjtftihoofci ^aj»3

By Helen Merrill Choate

I can never forget the days of old
That gleam in memory like threads of gold,
When life was sweet as honeyed sips,
And never a sigh escaped my lips.

All earth seemed fair, the air was sweet,
And love and peace reigned so complete,
In my childhood home among the hills,
That abounded in lakes and mountain rills.

Those happy hours have long passed away,

And yet they seem but yesterday,

Ah, could I but ray steps retrace,

And live as of yore in the same old place.

A silent tear is sure to flow,

For the rosy dawn of long ago,

As I turn my eyes with longing gaze,

Toward the backward vista of childhood days.

03eneral 3o£epIj Cillep

By John Scales, A. B., A. M.

S MAJOR CILLEY was one of the men who
helped take the powder from Portsmouth and
carry it up the Pascataqua River to Durham, from
where it was distributed, he knew just what towns to
which to go and get it, in that time of distressing need.
Some of it had already been used at the battle of Bunker
Hill by Colonels Stark r.nd Reid. Major Cilley attended
to the duty assigned him and in due time had the powder
on the way to Winter Hill for use of the soldiers under
General Sullivan's command. The reader must bear in
mind that they did not have any telephones, telegraphs or
postoffices, and not very good roads in those days. All
letters and messages had to be sent by special carriers, who
rode on horseback, the latter being the way Major Cilley
went from town to town and gave orders for moving the
powder. When it came to carting the powder to Exeter,
and thence to Winter Hill, the work was done by ox teams;
they were slow, sturdy oxen and patriots held the goads,
and if slow they got there without delay. That campaign
of 1775 was the liveliest New Hampshire ever saw, and
Major Cilley was one Of the most active men. He was
also one of the foremost during the siege of Boston, from
August, 1775, till the evacuation, March 17, 1776. Occa-
sionally he took a hand in arranging the defences at Ports-
mouth Harbor in the fall of 1775.

When the British left Boston, General Washington
anticipated that the next attack would be on New York, so
he marched his army as rapidly as possible to that place,
where he waited and watched for the movements of

117

118 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

Admiral Howe. General Sullivan's brigade, of which
Major Cilley's regiment (Third) was a part, went to New
York with Washington. While the siege of Boston was
going on, General Montgomery from Ticonderoga and the
New Hampshire troops under Benedict Arnold from Cam-
bridge had attempted to capture Quebec, and failed, Mont-
gomery losing his life (Dec. 31, 1775). The army then
commenced the retreat up the St. Lawrence River, pur-
sued by the British forces. General Thomas was placed
in command of the American Army.

To relieve and save the army from destruction Gen-
eral Washington ordered General Sullivan and his brigade
to march as speedily as possible to Canada. Sullivan left
New York April 22, 1776, went up the Hudson river, then
overland to Ticonderoga, down Lake Champlain to the
Sorel River, down that river to the St. Lawrence, and so
on until he met and saved General Thomas's army, Thomas
having died before Sullivan arrived at the point of meeting.
Then came the retreat; many of the men sick with small-
pox; but at length General Sullivan and his army reached
Ticonderoga. The whole story is thrilling and soul-stir-
ring, the bravery and the suffering of the men, the skill
and good generalship of Sullivan, make one of the remark-
able chapters in the history of the Revolutionary War.
Major Cilley had been promoted to Lieut.-Colonel in June,
on retirement of John McDuffee, and was a conspicuous,
brave and useful officer during the Canadian campaign of
rescue. It was fortunate that he kept his health all
through it, while so many of his men were sick. When
Sullivan's army reached Crown Point and went into camp,
Colonel Trumbull took a look at them; he says: "I did not
look into a tent or hut in which I did not find either a dead
or a dying man."

After remaining there and at Ticonderoga a while,
General Gates being the superior in rank of Sullivan and
in command, Sullivan and his brigade of New Hampshire
(Lt. Col. Cilley's regiment a part of it) left for New York

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 119

and joined Washington, at some day in the last of .'July
1776. Washington's army then consisted of about
20,000 men, of whom one fifth were sick, Lieut. Col. Cil-
ley not being one of the list. Washington was socn re-
enforced by 7,000 troops, mostly New England men.
Against them, on Staten Island, Generals Clinton and
Cornwallis had 24,000 of the best disciplined, healthy and
well-fed soldiers in the world. Clinton was preparing to
go over into Long Island, and then attack Washington,
who divining the purpose of the British, sent a consider-
able part of his army across East River to Long Island
and placed General Greene in command to meet Clinton's
army. Among the troops who went over were General
Sullivan's brigade, one regiment of which was Lieut. Colonel
Cilley's, the Third New Hampshire. Previous to the bat-
tle August 27, 1776, there were several days of manoeuver-
ing by both armies to get in touch. General Greene was
taken sick and General Sullivan took his place for a while,
then General Putnam was put in chief command and held
it until the defeat and retreat were completed. It is not
the purpose of this article to describe the battle in detail.
Suffice to say that when Sullivan was surprised and taken
prisoner, Lieut.-Colonel Cilley's regiment and most of the
other New Hampshire troops fought their way through the
British lines which surrounded them and retreated success-
fully across East River to New York. That was the first
actual fighting in battle in which Cilley was engaged, and
he showed himself to be a brave, fearless and skillful
officer.

General Carleton compelled Washington to begin his
retreat out of New York City September 13 1776. He
crossed the Hudson to New Jersey and through that State to
Pennsylvania; Cilley and the other New Hampshire troops
were with him. Then followed the battle of Trenton
December 26, 1776, and the battle of Princeton, January
3, 1777. When the British had driven Washington's army
across the Delaware River General Howe felt sure that the

120 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

back: of the "rebellion" was broken, and his army was
taking things easy, encamped along the Jersey bank of the
Delaware. Lieut. Colonel Cilley was with his old Dur-
ham friend, General Sullivan, when Washington's army
crossed the Delaware, and on that cold winter night when
the ice was forming and its surface was covered with float-
ing pieces. The current was swift and the night was dark.
Towards midnight a storm of snow and sleet set in and
through this they crossed to the Jersey shore. This must
have reminded Sullivan and Cilley of the capture they had
together made at Fort William and Mary at New Castle two
years before. After crossing the river Sullivan marched his
part of the army along the road by the river, and the cap-
ture of the British force at Trenton soon followed; the
grand victory need not be further described here; Sullivan
and Cilley were among the heroes.

At Princeton, where Washington outgeneralled Corn-
wallis by the brilliant camp fires and shrewdly managed
flank movement of his army, the New Hampshire troops
under Colonels Stark, Reid and Poor were in the thick of
the fight and put to flight the British 55th and 40th regi-
ments, which ended the battle. That Lieut. Colonel Cilley
did his share of the fighting is a certain fact. Washing-
ton then marched his army to Morristown and went into
winter quarters, the New Hampshire regiments being with
him. During January and February, 1777, these regi-
ments were reorganized. Col. John Stark becoming
indignant because Col. Enoch Poor was appointed brigadier
general over him by Congress, would not serve longer as
Colonel of the First Regiment. So Lieut. Colonel Cilley
of the Third Regiment was appointed Colonel of the First
Regiment in place of Stark, April 2, 1777.

SERVICE AS COLONEL OF THE FIRST N. H. REGIMENT

Joseph Cilley was promoted to Colonel of the First
New Hampshire Regiment February 22, 1777; he received

■

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 121

his commission from congress April 2, 1777, he being then
at Morristown, New Jessey; soon after he marched with
his regiment to Ticonderoga, as part of General Poor's
Brigade. This move was made necessary by the news that
a large British force was on the march from Canada to that
place, via Lake Champlain and Crown Point. It was said
that General Burgoyne had it in mind to march down
through Vermont and New Hampshire to Boston and re-
capture what the British had been compelled to give up
when Washington forced them to evacuate that town
March 17, 1776.

Colonel Cilley encamped his regiment in the "Old
French Lines," in May, having tents for their habitations.
The regiments of Colonels Scammell and Dearborn were
compatriots on the same beautiful camping ground, and
General Enoch Poor was in command at Ticonderoga. It
is fortunate for the historian that one man ot Colonel Cil-
ley's regiment kept a daily record of the events in which
the regiment participated for three years from May 13,
1777, t0 May, 1 78 1. That man was Thomas Blake, of
Lebanon, N. H., who was Lieutenant of one of the com-
panies. The diary was published in 1868 by Mr. Frederick
Kidder of Boston. Lieutentant Blake started on his jour-
ney from Lebanon May 14, and reached Fort Independ-
ence, on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain, May 21,
and joined his regiment that day. He says it was a very
hard tramp of seven days over very bad roads.

General Poor was superceded in command of Ticon-
deroga, June 11, by Major-General St. Clair. The enemy
had begun to make their appearance then, and Colonel
Cilley's regiment had its first encounter with the advance
guard, on June 17, the second anniversary of the battle of
Bunker Hill, in which the regiment had taken a conspic-
uous and important part, under command of its first Col-
onel, John Stark, Cilley not then being a member of the
regiment. In that first encounter Colonel Cilley's men
did not suffer loss, but they killed one of the enemy and

122 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

dispersed the rest. On June 30, the enemy began to
arrive in force, in numerous boats, landing troops on both
sides of the Lake and stationing their ships across the
water from shore to shore. On July 1st the enemy got
possession of Mt. Hope, about one mile from Colonel
Cilley's regiment, and the next day the regiment had a
sharp encounter with the enemy; five of our men were
killed, four were wounded and one man was taken prisoner;
Colonel Cilley's son Jonathan, a boy of fifteen years who
was serving as an aid on his father's staff. The boy was
retained as a prisoner for a while, but when General Bur-
goyne learned that he was the son of a colonel of a New
Hampshire regiment he granted him a pass to return to
the American lines and permitted him to select any article
of clothing he might desire from the large amount Bur-
goyne's men had captured from the American army, when
it beat such a hasty retreat from Ticonderoga. Jonathan
was also provided with an old horse and a pair of saddle
bags containing proclamations by Burgoyne, ordering the
rebel Americans to surrender. He overtook his father
somewhere on the line of retreat from Lake Champlain to
North River. Colonel Cilley took one of the proclama-
tions and read it aloud in the presence of his regiment;
then ordering all of the circulars to be torn in pieces and
scattered to the wind, he said:

"Thus may the British Army be scattered!"
During this disastrous retreat, at night, when every-
thing was in confusion, Gen. Kosciuszko, not being able
to find his own horse, took the first that came in his way.
It belonged to Adjutant Caleb Stark of Colonel Cilley's
staff. When Stark came for his horse and not finding it
where he left it, proceeded on foot until daylight, when he
discovered the Polish general mounted on his horse and
demanded his property, which the other refused to give up.
Kosciuszko was a highly educated military officer, then 31
years old; Stark was a youth of 18 years; the Polish officer
was very impulsive, and young Stark was a "chip of the old

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 123

block," having served with his father at the battle of Bunker
Hill; high words ensued between the Pole and the Yankee.
Stark challenged him to fight a duel; Kosciuszko replied,
that "a subaltern is not of sufficient rank to meet a briga-
dier general." — "If he is not," said a person coming up on
foot, "I am. This officer, general, is my adjutant, the
horse is his property, and his demand is a proper one."
"Ah, Colonel Cilley," replied the general, "if that is the
case I will give up the horse." The adjutant recovered
his horse; but in half an hour afterward, Colonel Cilley,
who had lost his own horse, said, "Stark, I am tired, you
must lend me your horse," which request was cheerfully
complied with, as Cilley was a man of 43 years. That
retreat from Ticonderoga and the summer campaign on the
upper part of the Hudson river, was a very trying time to
the regiment and its officers.

The abandonment of Ticonderoga began very sud-
denly, as the enemy came upon the Americans in an unex-
pected, and as was supposed, impossible quarter. On the
night of July 6, Lieutenant Blake says, "The First Regi-
ment was ordered to strike its tents about one o'oclock in
the morning, and parade as soon as possible with packs and
provisions. As soon as we were paraded we marched over
Mt. Independence, where we found all in moving posture,
the boats and batteaux chiefly loaded, the provisions not all
taken in, the clothing chests all broken open, the clothing
scattered about and carried off by all who were disposed to
take, and everything in great confusion. About sunrise
the last of the boats and the rear guard left the Mount, by
which time the enemy were in the 'French lines.' The
body of the army marched as far as Castleton, which is
about 30 miles, and the rear guard with the men who could
not keep up with the body, tarried at Hubbardtown six
miles back."

Colonel Cilley's regiment was not of the number that
"tarried at Hubbardtown" and had a lively fight with the
advance guard of the enemy, but kept on and after a very

124 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

fatiguing march of five days came to North or Hudson
River, along the banks of which, several weeks later,
occurred the battles which led to the surrender of Bur-
goyne at Saratoga. From that date to September 10, the
regiment was engaged in hard work, along the river, at
various points, but they had no fighting to do with the
enemy. On Sept. 10, Lieutenant Blake says: — "We began
to fortify on the heights back of Stillwater, and built a
floating bridge across the river, etc." On the 12th they
marched up the river about three miles, and encamped on
the high ground, about half a mile from the river, known
by the name of Bemis's Heights, where they fortified, the
enemy then being at Saratoga. There they prepared,
with the rest of the army, for the first great battle with
Burgoyne, which took place on the 19th and concerning
which Lieutenant Blake very modestly says:

"About 12 o'clock (noon) the First New Hampshire
Regiment marched out to meet the enemy. We met them
about one mile from our encampment, where the engage-
ment began very closely, and continued about 20 minutes,
in which time we lost so many men, and received no re-
enforcement, that we were obliged to retreat, but before
we got to the encampment we met two regiments coming
out as a re-enforcement, when we returned and renewed
the attack, which continued very warm until dark, at which
time we withdrew and retired to our encampment. In this
engagement the enemy had two field pieces in the field,
which we took three or four times, but as it was in the
woods, they were not removed."

( To be continued)

CHARACTER SKETCHES

No. X
"COUREUR DU BOIS"

ViS

m m

" 3 §

-:1

■/

■-■•->:

> - i

•-

v i

V J

4 .i' ^'

• r

- ' . . ' fr --'"/'?,;.

■ gg& djjfcjgftj J

Chara&er Sketches
x

"Coureur du Bois"

^5" OLLOWiNG in the wake of Carrier, the discov-
ti\ j ~~^ ^ erer °f Canada, was a character in New
: 'f^\c^f >',?}' France, which was the opposite of the Puritan
i|€fbi£ fagPl* ' in New England. Instead of a home-maker
the coureur du bois was a rover of the wilderness, the fur
trade of his day offering him a ready excuse for his wander-
ings. A restless nature ever urged him on to find solace for a
soul that neither compasssed peace nor longings that were sat-
isfied, he was continually prompted to seek new and distant
sections of the vast solitude where the white man's foot had
never penetrated.

In the lives of the coureurs du bois, "runners of the
woods,"--"runners of risks," says the keen-witted Hontan--
Canada offers a prolific source of romance. XVith a swarthy
face, his small head covered with a red woolen cap, made
loose, or a head -gear from the skin of the fox or the wolf, his
lithe body clad in blanket coats, girthed about the waist with
stout leathern thongs, his lower limbs encased in deerskin
leggings, fringed along the seams, and his feet thrust into moc-
casins ornamented with porcupine quills, the Canadian ranger
looked what he was, the most picturesque character that came
to the front in that adventurous period. In the course of his
career he wandered over all the great North West. With-
out him New France must have remained a dream in the
troubled sleep of the French; with him she became a night-
mare.

The nearest approach to him among the English has been
the Trapper of the Far West, who led the way to civilization
beyond the Rocky Mountains. He found his closest rival in
the sable hunter of Siberia, though the latter never disturbed

the peace of the country or threatened its morals as did the
lone fur-trader of the Northwest. As a gold-seeker rather
than a fur-seeker, an element closely allied with him in spirit
over-ran Australia for a period, and then vanished as swiftly
and mysteriously as it had come, even as the coureur du bois
disappeared from the Canadian wilds.

Those who may fee! that the predominating trait of the
coureur du bois was closely allied to savagery should not
forget that it is but a step backward from civilization to bar-
barism. Nor is the spirit yet wholly removed from us. In the
rapidity and pleasure with which men delight to isolate them-
selves, break away from the shell of conventionality and wal-
low in the furrow of indolent imagery, we see ample proof of
this. We see it typified in the hunter lured into the forest
depths under the pretence of slaying some helpless victim
which falls an easy prey to him, but himself in reality governed
by the irresistible impulse to be alone. We see evidence of
this trait in the disappointed man who immediately shuts him-
self up in a prison house of nature with himself as turnkey.
There is evidence of it in the naturalist, in the mountaineer, in
the very friend who frequently breaks from the social ties of
life to wander in the open fields, to roam in the fastness of the
forest, the loneliness of the mountain, the sublimity of the sea-
shore. It is the vital spark of humanity. As long as its embers
last there will be hope for the race.

Our wild life in this country is happily gone. That more
modern production, the cowboy, has laid aside his pi&uresque
personality and become that more prosaic figure, a laborer.
Even the dusky-hued warrior of the wilderness has laid down
his bow and arrow, and complacently smokes, day by day,
the pipe of peace.

^fje <®lb Crotun Point Ctoab

An Historical Address Delivered by the Hon.
Albin S. Burbank at CavexNdish, Vt., September
17, 1909, at the Dedication by the D. A. R. of
a Memorial to the Memory of the Builders of
this Great Military Highway in 1759-60.

While not coming within the territory of New Hampshire our state
had then and later a decided interest in the old road running from her out-
post on the Connecticut River, Old Number Four, to those important
defences on the shores of Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga and Crown
Point. These last places, together with Fort William Henry at Lake
George, had been built at great expense and must be maintained in order
for the British to hold their supremacy of the American continent against
their allied foes, the French and Amerinds. The need of this road had
been seen through the earlier stages of the Seven Years' War, when it had
been found so difficult to unite with sufficient ease and celerity the forces
of New England and the west.

Accordingly the task, greater for its day than now seems evident, was
begun in 1759, and two New Hampshire men, Col. John Goffe and Capt.
John Stark, were selected to take charge of the construction of the two
divisions of the road. The way, practically a bee-line between its objective
points, was built on the high lands and avoided the swamps. The wisdom
Qf its projectors was quickly shown, and it became one of the prime fac-
tors in determining the result of the long and arduous struggle. It
seemed like the irony of fate that this highway should prove the means
of the downfall in this country of its military builders, in less than a score
ot years. Without this road it is doubtful if Gen. John Stark could have
rallied and inarched his men across the province of the Green Mountains
in season to have made his heroic and victorious stand at Bennington in
the darkest hour of the Revolution.

The President of the day, Hon. Gilbert A. Davis, in his introductory
remarks at the unveiling of the tablet at Springfield, Vt., says aptly. "The
building of this road was na insignificant event, but an enterprise of great
national importance. We dq well to honor it and mark its location, as

129

130 THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD

has been done from the Connecticut River along its line up into Weathers-
field. Unless this road had been built, perhaps George Washington, Gen-
eral Stark, Ethan Allen, and thousands of others . . . men whom we
justly regard as patriots and heroes, would have been classed as rebels
and traitors; the Declaration of American Independence would have been
regarded as a crime and a blunder." — Editor.

/^^^HIS is historic ground and has been trodden by
^sL-> many thousand soldiers in those early days.
There is a tradition that the cannon captured by
Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga were taken to Boston over
this route, but we are unable at this late day to verify the
legend. In order that we may better understand the
necessity for this road (which was a great undertaking for
those days) I shall recall some points in the early his-
tory of the Colonies, and take up some of the important
events connected therewith, giving prominence to Number
Four, which was so intimately connected with the road.

At the end of Queen Anne's War in 1713, there was
no English settlement or lodgement on the Connecticut
River above Greenfield, then "Green River Farms," a dis-
trict of Deerfield. In 1714 Northfield became permanently
established as the frontier town. During the Father Rales
War of 1722-25, which was mainly a rising of some of the
Indian tribes, led by the Jesuit priest and backed by the
French governor, Vaudrieul, the outpost was advanced up
the west side of the river above Northfield with the erec-
tion of Fort Dummer, now Brattleboro.

With the close of that war Fort Dummer became a
truck house for trading with the then peaceful Indians
coming down from Canada, and soon a slender settlement
of traders grew up about it. This was the pioneer settle-
ment of the upper valley of the Connecticut. It was the
nucleus of Brattleboro, chartered and named some years
later, the first English township in what is now Vermont.
It remained the only upper valley settlement until about
1740. Fort Dummer was erected by the province of Massa-
chusetts for the protection of the northwestern frontier of

■'■

THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD 131

Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was ordered to be
garrisoned by forty able men (English) and western Mohawk
Indians. The site of the fort is in the southeastern por-
tion of the town of Brattieboro, still known as Dummer's
meadows. It was built under the supervision of Col. John
Stoddard of Northampton. Lieut. Timothy Dwight had
immediate charge of the work and was the first commander
of the fort. He was an ancestor of President Timothy
Dwight of Yale. The fort was built on what was known
as the equivalent lands, which were four parcels of unoccu-
pied tracts along the west banks of the river between the
present limits of Brattieboro, Dummerston and Putney,
107,793 acres in all, which Massachusetts had transferred
to Connecticut in settlement of colonial lines. Afterwards
Connecticut granted them back to Massachusetts. Thirty
years later these townships (complaining of Massachusetts
taxation) again of their own motion shifted back to Con-
necticut. Shortly afterward Connecticut sold them at pub-
lic vendue and gave the proceeds to Yale College; they
brought a little more than a farthing per acre. The pur-
chase fell to four Massachusetts men; these were William
Dummer, lieutenant-governor of the province, William
Brattle of Cambridge, and Anthony Stoddard and John
White of Boston, — hence the name of the fort for the gov-
ernor and the town for the Cambridge man. The fort was
a stout structure built of yellow pine and thought to be
proof against ordinary assaults, but in October following
its completion (1724) it was attacked by Indians and four
or five of the garrison killed or wounded. Subsequently a
stockade was built around it, composed of stout square
hewn timbers twelve feet long, set upright in the ground,
inclosing an acre and a half. This and Number Four
erected later were the chief military outposts until the
conquest of Canada.

In 1740 three families from Lunenburg, Mass., began
the east side settlement of Number Four, which later
became Charlestown, and in 1743 a fort was erected. Capt.

;**

132 THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD

Phineas Stephens was early there, and became the hero of
Number Four. He was a soldier of exeptional ability and
skill, and was familiar with the methods of Indian warfare,
having in his youth been a captive of the St. Francis tribe,
taken with his brother at Rutland, Mass., during a raid of
Father Rales war. Late in March, 1746, having been
employed elsewhere, he returned with forty-nine men to
Number Four, which was now a plantation of nine or ten
families, to save the fort from falling into the hands of the
enemy, and arrived just in time, for a force of French and
Indians under Ensign de Niverville was close upon it. On
the 19th of April and in May and June there were assaults
by the Indians, and in July the fort was besieged for two
days. Throughout the rest of the summer it was block-
aded. In August the enemy destroyed all the horses, cattle,
and hogs in the settlement, and then withdrew. Number
Four was evacuated and lay deserted until March, 1747,
when Captain Stevens again returned with thirty rangers.
He found the fort uninjured and received a joyous wel-
come from two inmates — an old spaniel and a cat left at the
evacuation. On the 4th of April a body of trained French
soldiers and Indian warriors appeared, variously estimated
at from four to seven hundred; then followed the siege
which lasted for five days. But Captain Stevens and his
men stood firm, and although the enemy endeavored to fire
the fort, they were unsuccessful. Finally at a parley the
French commander promised if the men would lay down
their arms and march out; their lives would be spared,
otherwise he would set the fort on fire and run over the top
of it. Assembling his men, the captain put it to vote whether
to fight on or to capitulate. All to a man voted to stand it
out as long as they had life. About noon of the fifth day,
the enemy proposed if the besieged would sell them pro-
visions they would leave and not fight any more. To this
the captain replied he would not sell them provisions for
money, but if they would send in a captive for every five
bushels of corn he would supply them. Soon after a few

th£ old crown point road 133

guns were fired and the enemy withdrew. So ended the
remarkable battle of 700 against 30. Of the enemy many
were slain, but the besieged had none killed and only two
wounded An express carried the news to Boston, and
Captain Stevens' gallant defense won the admiration,
expressed in the gift of an elegant sword, of Sir Charles
Knowles of the British navy, then in Boston, whose name
was subsequently bestowed on the settlement at Charles-
town.

Number Four, as the outermost post with no settle-
ment within 40 miles of it, again bore the brunt of war
through the troubled period of 1754 to 1760, and suffered
many hardships. It received the first hard shock of the
outbreak when in August, 1754, a band of Indians burst
into the house of Capt. James Johnson, siezed the seven
inmates and hurried them all off to Canada. The story of
the adventures and sufferings as told in Mrs. Johnson's
narrative is familiar to many of us.

In 1755 the Indians came swooping down the valley
again. About midsummer news came that 500 Indians
were collecting in Canada to exterminate the whole white
population on the river. The settlers were attacked at
different times at Walpole and Bellows Falls, and twice at
Hinsdale. While the assault at Walpole was the last by
the Indians in force, roaming bands continued to infest the
frontier towns till the close of the war. In the spring of
1757, a band of French and Indians came again upon
Charlestown, and attacking the settlers carried five to
Canada and there sold them into slavery as usual, only two
surviving their captivity. After the spring of 1757, Num-
ber Four was under the jurisdiction of the king's officers.
The fort was the rendezvous of various colonial regiments
and a headquarters of rangers.

In 1755 France was in possession of Canada; and the
western shore of Lake Champlain, with Fort Carrillon at
Ticonderoga and Fort Frederick at Crown Point, Were also
garrisoned by 200 French regulars, 700 Canadians and 600

134 THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD

Indians; the French also had settlements in Louisiana.
The English occupied the country south of Canada and
west to the Ohio river; Boston was the headquarters and
seat of the provincial government for the Massachusetts
colonies. England and France, aside from European com-
plications, had cause enough for war on this continent,
France having colonized Canada and Louisiana while Eng-
land had established colonies in between, which separated
the French settlements. To connect the latter, and to
exclude England from the great fur trade of the interior,
France began to erect a series of military posts from the
Niagara river to the mouth of the Mississippi. This action
was naturally resented by the English and her American
colonists, and in 1755 the conflict began by an attack on
the French forts in the Ohio valley. George Washington
himself fired the first hostile shot in this, the French and
Indian War, at a place about forty miles from where the
city of Pittsburg, Pa., now stands, and the fight was on
between the French and English to see which should have
supremacy on this continent. The French enlisted some
of the Indian tribes as allies through the influence of the
Jesuit priests, and practised many barbarities. They gave
the Indians a bounty on the captives they brought in alive,
and sold them as slaves to the French residents of Mon-
treal and vicinity. In some cases the captives were held
for ransom, and sometimes when the price came it was
held and the prisoners not liberated. The war had been
continued from 1755 to 1758, the campaign for the latter
year had been very successful for the English, and their
power was steadily waxing as that of the French waned.
Several leading tribes of Indians joined the Six Nations in
treaties of neutrality with the English. Gen. Jeffrey
Amherst, a brilliant and effective officer, had succeeded to
the command of the English forces, displacing the incom-
petent Lord Loudon. In the early summer of 1759 three
great campaigns were arranged by the English, by one of
which General Amherst was to proceed against Ticonderoga

THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD 135

and Crown Point and invade Canada by the northern route.
He accordingly advanced against Ticonderoga, when the
French destroyed the fort and retreated to Fort Frederick
at Crown Point. Amherst followed and the French fled to
an island in the northern part of Lake Champlain. Thus
the whole country around Lake Champlain fell into the
hands of the English.

This brings us to the time of building this road. Gen-
eral Amherst wanted men and supplies for his advance
upon Montreal. Number Four was the rendezvous for
troops enlisted in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and
the road was necessary. The then unoccupied territory
north of the Massachusett line and between the Connecti-
cut and Hudson rivers was constantly crossed and recrossed
by armed parties of whites and marauding Indians. It
was a vast unguarded frontier, unsafe and liable at any
time to be overrun by savage foes, for which reason what
is now Vermont was not sooner settled and occupied by
the whites.

In January, 1727-1728, the general court of Boston
authorized an exploration of the country between the
northern frontiers and Canada. One party was to discover
that part lying between the Connecticut river and Lake
Champlain. Later traders had explored by the old Indian
trail by way of what is now Springfield, Weathersfield,
Cavendish, Ludlow and Plymouth, thence across the moun-
tains by Otter Creek to Lake Champlain. This was the
route usually taken by Indians coming down to the truck
house at Fort Dummer.

The diary of a journey made in 1730, by a trader,
James Cross of Deerfield, describing the course of the trail
and the country about it, was laid before the government.
The journal read as follows:

^Monday ye 27th April, 1730. At about 12 of ye clocke we left
Fort Dummer and travailed that day three miles and lay down that night
by West River which is distant 3 miles from Fort Dummer. Notabene,
I travailed with 12 Canada Mohawks that drank to great excess at ye fort

■*"

136 THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD

and killed a Skatacook Indian in their drunken condition that came to
smoke with them.

Tuesday. We travailed upon the great river (Connecticut) about ten
miles. We kept ye same course upon ye Great River, traveled about 10
miles and eat a drowned Buck that night. We travailed upon ye Great
River within 2 miles of ye Great Falls (Bellows Falls) in said River then
went upon land to ye Black River above Great Falls. Went up that
river and lodged about a mile and a half from the mouth of Black River
which days travel we judged was about 10 miles.

Friday. We cross Black River at Falls (now Springfield Village)
afterwards through ye woods Nor-Northwest. Then cross Black River
again about 17 miles above our first crossing. Afterwards travel ye same
course and pitched our tents on ye homeward side of Black River.

Saturday. We crossed Black River and left a great mountain on ye
right hand and another on ye left (Ludlow). Keep a N. W. Course till
we pitch our tent after n miles travail by a brook which we called a
branch of Black River.

Sabbath Day. We travailed to Black River at ye 3 islands between
which and a large pond we past ye Black River and enter a mountain (in
Plymouth) that afforded us a prospect of ye place of Fort Dummer.
Soon after we enter a descending country and travail till we reach Arthur
Creek (Otter Creek) in a descending land. In this days travail which is
31 miles we came upon 7 brooks which ran a S. W. Course at ye north
end of said mountain; from Black River to Arthur Creek we judged it
is 25 miles.

Monday. Made Canoes.

Tuesday. Hindered travailing by rain. We go in our canoes upon
Arthur Creek till we meet 2 great falls (probably Centre Rutland and Proc-
tor) said river is very black and deep and surrounded with good land to ye
extremity of our prospect. This days travail 35 miles.

Thursday. We sail 40 miles on Arthur Creek. We meet with great
falls (Middlebury) and a little above them we meet two other pretty large
falls (at Weybridge) and about 10 miles we. meet other large falls (prob-
ably Vergennes). We carried our canoe by these falls and came to ye
Lake."

The following resolution was passed by the House of
Representatives of Massachusetts on the 10th day of
March, 1756: "Whereas, it is of great importance that a
thorough knowledge be had of the distance and practica-

THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD 137

oility of a communication between Number Four, on the
Connecticut River and Crown Point, and that the course
down the Otter Creek shall be known, therefore; Voted
that his Excellency, the Governor, be and he is hereby
desired, as soon as may be, to appoint fourteen men upon the
service; seven of them to go from said Number Four, direct
course, to Crown Point to measure the distance and gain
what knowledge they can of the country, and the other
seven to go from Number Four to Otter Creek, aforesaid,
and down said Creek to Lake Champlain, observing the
true course of said Creek, its depth of water, what falls
there are in it and also the soil on each side thereof and
what growth of wood are near it. Each party of said men
to keep a journal of their proceedings and observations
and lay the same, on their return, before this court. They
to observe all such directions as they may require from his
excellency.

"One man in each party is to be a skillful surveyor and
the persons allowance made them by the court for their
services."

Col. Israel Williams of Hatfield was particularly
charged with this duty. It was also proposed to build a
strong fort on the height of land between Black River and
Otter Creek. A military post was therefore deemed impor-
tant, as it would furnish an opportunity to prevent the
advance of the enemy from Lake Champlain, facilitate
operations against Crown Point, and afford a safe retreat
forscouting parties from the Connecticut River.

In the following summer Lord Loudon took similer
steps for a military road from the Connecticut, and obtained
from Colonel Williams a topographical sketch of the coun-
try and reports from the scouting officers, but owing to the
number of hostile Indians infesting the region, no further
attempt was made at that time to build either the fort or
the road.

In the spring of 1759, Capt. John Stark, having
enlisted a new company, returned to Fort Edward and was

138 THE OLD CROWN POINT ROAD

present under General Amherst at the reduction of Fort
Ticonderoga and Crown Point. After the surrender of
Fort Frederick he was ordered by the general with a force
of 200 rangers to construct a road through the wilderness
from Crown Point to Number Four on the Connecticut.
A good wagon road was built from Crown Point to Otter
Creek and Colonel Hawks cut a bridle path thence over
the mountains, but for some reason did not complete the
work. The road commenced at Chimney Point, a short
distance from Crown Point, in what is now the town of
Addison. An older branch of this road and the only one
traveled prior to 1759 (probably an old Indian trail) passed
through Centre Rutland northerly to what is now Proctor,
following nearly the west Proctor road and the present road
in Pittsford west of the Otter Creek, crossing the Hubbard-
ton road, from Pittsford railroad station about a mile west
of the present West Creek road, continuing northerly to
Breese's mills, thence to Crown Point.

The eastern end of the road, between Number Four
and the mountains, was built in the summer of 1760, one
hundred and forty-nine years ago. The work was done
by Col. John Goffe and his renewed regiment of eight hun-
dred New Hampshire men. They had first opened a road
from the Merrimack River towards the Connecticut, clear-
ing a mere bridle path as far as Keene, N. H., and arrived
at Number Four in June. Crossing the river, they first
built a block house close by the ferry landing and enclosed
it in palisades as a protection in case of trouble. They
were 44 or 45 days in cutting the road to the mountains
where it hit the bridle path cut by Colonel Hawks the year
previous. At every mile they set up a post, and twenty-
six of these posts had been placed when the mountains
were reached. Their baggage was carried on ox-teams as
far as the mountains, then pack horses were used. Such
was the speed with which the work was dispatched that
Colonel Goffe's regiment was able to participate in the
final expedition against Montreal in September, 1760.

THE OXEN 139

While on this work an epidemic broke out among the
soldiers employed, and several died; their bodies were
buried at a spot east of the line of the road, in Springfield,
The block house at the river, the land adjoining, and two
of the king's boats used as a ferry, were given by General
Amherst to Luxford Goodwin in payment for carrying a
packet to General Murray at Quebec, All but a small part
of the road through Springfield was discontinued as early
as 1826,

The road was built from a point on the river not far
from where the Cheshire bridge is now located, just skirt-
ing the southern point of Skitchewaug mountain running
north by west through Springfield.

Many provincial leaders who took part in the French
and English war on the English side afterwards became
famous in the war of the Revolution on the American side,
notably George Washington, Israel Putnam, John Stark
and John Hawks; Benjamin Franklin was also major of
militia under the king, but found military life not to his
taste and resigned.

Cfce <Oxen

Shoulder to shoulder all day long

The oxen labor across the field,
The pace is slow, but the plow is strong,

And stubble and tussock yield.
The plowman halts as the sun goes down,

And leaves his plow near the furrowed loam,
Then slowly over the meadow brown.

He follows the oxen home.

Side by side in their stanchions there

The oxen stand at the close of day,
Happy are they and free from care,

Eating their evening hay,
They have borne the yoke from sun to sun,

Shoulder to shoulder in true accord.
And now they reap, when the day is done,

The laborer's just reward.

4£arty aMorfc

An Incident of Pioneer Days
By Rev. Grant Powers

'HE Town of Orford, N. H., was first settled by
Daniel Cross and wife in June, 1765.

John Mann, Esq., and wife, whose maiden name
was Lydia Porter, both of Hebron, Conn., came into
Orford in the following autumn. They left Hebron on the
16th of October, and arrived in Orford on the 24th of the
same month. They both mounted the same horse, accord-
ing to Puritan custom, and rode to Charlestown, N. H.,
nearly one hundred and fifty miles. Here Mann purchased
a bushel of oats for his horse, and some bread and cheese
for himself and wife, and set forward — Mann on foot; wife,
oats, bread and cheese, and some clothing, on horseback.

From Charlestown to Orford there was no road but a
horse-track, and this was frequently hedged across by fallen
trees; and when they came to such an obstruction, which
could not be passed around, Mann, who was of a gigantic
stature, would step up, take the young bride, and set her
upon the ground; then the oats, bread and cheese; and
lastly, the old mare was made to leap the windfall; when
all was reshipped, and the voyage resumed. This was
acted over time and again, until the old beast became impa-
tient of delay, and coming to a similar obstruction, while
Mann was some rods in the rear, she pressed forward, and
leaped the trunk of a large tree, resisting all the force her
young rider could exert; and when Mann came up, which
he did in a trice, there lay the bride upon the ground with
all the baggage resting upon her. The old creature, how-
ever, had the civility not to desert them in this predic-

140

EARLY ORFORD 141

ament, and, as no bones were broken and no joints dislo-
cated, they soon resumed their journey; Mann, for the rest
of the way, constituted the van instead of the rear guard.

When they arrived in Orford, they very naturally made
Daniel Cross' tent their first resting place. They were
received with all that cordiality and hospitality which char-
acterize those who are separated from all friends and are
enclosed by the solitude of a vast wilderness. Cross had
reared a shelter for his cow adjoining his own tent, and for
that night the cow was ejected and Cross and his wife
occupied her apartment, while Mann and his wife improved
the parlor. But they were doomed to a sad adventure that
night. Cross had felled a large tree, the butt end of which
constituted no inconsiderable portion of one side of his
house. Into this log he had bored two holes, about four
feet apart, and sharpening two sappling poles, he had
driven them horizontally into the log, to form the two sides
of a bedstead. The other ends of the poles were supported
by two perpendicular posts, in the manner of ordinary
bedsteads. Elm bark served for cord and sacking. This
rigging was adequate to sustain Cross and his companion,
a light couple; but when Mann and his partner came into
possession, it was quite another affair. Soon after all had
retired to rest, this frail fabric of a bedstead suddenly
gave way with a carsh, which frightened the tenants of
both apartments prodigiously. Mrs. Mann screamed, and
this was suddenly responded to from Cross' apartment,
"What is the matter?" But after mutual explanations and
apologies, Mann and his wife resumed a recumbent position
on the floor, and enjoyed a refreshing sleep, with the excep-
tion of an occasional interruption from a sudden burst of
laughter from the cow apartment.

As Mann came on from Charlestown, he found in the
town of Claremont two openings by young men of the
name of Dorchester. In Cornish there was but one fam-
ily, that of Moses Chase. In Plainfield there was one
family, Francis Smith. The wife was "terribly" homesick,

142 JOE H. POTTER

and declared she "would not stay there in the woods." In
Lebanon, there were three families, Charles Hill, son and
son-in-law, a Mr. Pinnick. In Hanover there was one fam-
ily, Col. Edmund Freeman, and several young men, who
were making settlements. In Lyme, there were three
families, all by the name ot Sloan — John, William and
David.

Joe t. Potter

CjT|OE H. POTTER was born in Portsmouth, N. H.,
jf June 22, 1833, and died in Hillsboro, January 19,
<^Pi 1904, barely outliving his threescore and ten years.
He was one of twins — the other, a sister, living but three
weeks — born to Clara A. and the Hon. Chandler E. Potter,
and was the oldest of three sons, his brothers bearing the
names of Treat and Drown.

He passed his early boyhood in the seaport city,
his parents moving to Manchester when he was ten
years old, where he attended the public schools, end-
ing his school education with a course at Pinker-
ton Academy in Derry. At fourteen he went to work
in his father's printing office, where he remained for
several years, assisting in the publication of the Manches-
ter Democrat and setting type, with his brother Treat,
upon his father's "History of Manchester." In fact, it is
claimed that Judge Potter wrote his well-known history to
afford work for "the boys," when the lack of other work
allowed them leisure. The "Judge," as he was familiarly
called, was noted for his easy going ways, and so the copy
on the history did not accumulate much ahead of the
young compositors. Realizing their father's weakness, as

JOE H. POTTER 143

well as he did theirs for going fishing, it was their delight
to suddenly demand more "copy" whenever he was settled
down for an hour of rest in the office. Thereupon the
vexed historian would seize his quill and hastily scribble off
page after page of matter, until he had met the demands
of his tormentors. This erratic manner of writing it
accounts in a large measure for the irregular construction
of what under proper methods must have been a very
meritorious history.

In 1859 Mr. Potter married Miss Olivia Smalley of
Gardner, Me., and two years later the couple moved from
Manchester to Saginaw, Mich., where he first engaged in
the grocery business with his brother Drown, and when
the latter went into the army, where he was killed a year
later, he returned to his old trade of compositor.

In 1862, a few months after the birth of their only
child, Clara Frances Potter, he and his family returned
east to settle on the old Pierce homestead at Hillsboro
Lower Village. Engaged in farm work for a year, he then,
in May, 1863, purchased the plant of the Weekly News,
the first paper established in Hillsboro, which he published
for four years, besides conducting a job printing depart-
ment.

In 1867, he sold out the News and started the publica-
tion of the Hillsboro Messenger. Retiring from this after
a few years, he filled the position of depot master of the
Hillsboro Bridge station of the Contoocook River Railroad,
under its different managements. He served faithfully in
that position for ten years, when poor health obliged him
to resign. A severe cold had resulted in asthma, from
which he was a great sufferer during his last four years.
When able to do so, he worked at the case until he was
obliged to give up.

Mr. Potter was a well-read man, especially in histor-
ical matters, being very conversant upon affairs in his
adopted town, and also of Manchester. Politically, he was
a Democrat of the old school. He never held or sought

144 THE OPEN ROAD

public office. He was a member of the Old Residents*
Association and of the Manchester Historic Association,
being deeply interested in both. He had his father's
library, which he finally sold to Mr. G. Waldo Browne.

In former years, Mr. Potter belonged to the Amos-
keag Veterans of Manchester, and accompanied them on
their celebrated trip to Washington, in 1855. He was at
one time a member of the old Hiilsboro Cornet Band and
was very proficient in his musical entertainments.

In Mr. Potter's death is removed the last lineal
representative of his family name, His daughter, who
was an accomplished teacher, died April 3, 1888, and he
never fully recovered from the blow of her loss. His
widow survived him by about three years. The three
sleep in the family plot in Deering cemetery.

By Francis E. Falkenbury

There is a good road leading down,

An old brown road from a good old town;
Shaded and shadowed by restful trees,
That softly talk to the fresh young breeze:

And sometime when my heart is sad,
And all the city looks old and gray,

I shall leave the work which drives one mad,
And take that good road leading away,
And follow it on through the ripening day,

Until my soul comes back to me —

My soul which is fettered here and bound
As to iron wheels by the city's sound —

All straight and smooth and free.

<J3eneral 3o^epfj Ctllep

By John Scales, A. B., A M.

SERVICE IN THE FIRST N. H. REGIMENT — ( Continued)

BRIEF of the battle may better show just what
Colonel Cilley did with his regiment, At n
o'clock a. m., the booming of cannon in Burgoyne's
army gave the signal that he was about to advance on the
American lines. At noon General Arnold gave the order,
by permission of General Gates, to Col. Daniel Morgan,
commander of the famous regiment of riflemen, and to
Colonels Cilley, Dearborn and Scammell of the New
Hampshire regiments, to attackthe Canadians and Indians,
who were swarming on the hills in advance of Burgoyne's
right. These were driven back and pursued. Morgan's
riflemen became scattered, were recalled, and with the
New England troops under Cilley, Dearborn and Scam-
mell, another furious charge was made. After a sharp
engagement in which Morgan's horse was shot under him,
the combatants withdrew to their respective lines. Mean-
while Burgoyne had moved rapidly upon the American
center and left. At the same time the vigilant Arnold
attempted to turn the British right. Masked by thick
woods, neither party was now certain of the movements
of the other and they suddenly and unexpectedly met in
a ravine at Freeman's Farm, at which Burgoyne had
halted. There the battle raged desperately for awhile.
Arnold was pressed back, when Fraser, by a quick move-
ment, called up some German troops from the British cen-
ter to his aid. Arnold rallied his men, and with New Eng-
land troops led by Colonels Cilley, Dearborn, Scammell

145

146 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEV

and others, struck the enemy with such heavy blows that
his lines besran to waver and fall into confusion. The Brit-
ish received re-enforcements and the battle continued.
The British ranks were becoming fearfully thinned, when
Riedesel fell heavily upon the American flank with infantry
and artillery and they gave way. A lull in the battle suc-
ceeded, but at the middle of the afternoon the contest was
renewed with greater fury. At length the British, fear-
fully assailed by bullet and bayonet, recoiled and fell back.
It was there that General Arnold was in the battle against
General Gates's orders, and the victory was saved for the
American army. For three hours the battle raged. Like
an ocean tide the warriors surged backward and forward,
winning and losing victory alternately. Night closed the
contest and both armies rested on their arms until morn-
ing, when both withdrew to their own lines. That ended
the battle at Bemis's Heights.

The Battle at Stillwater, two miles away, followed on
October 7, of which Lieutenent Blake says in his Journal:

"A detachment of the enemy marched upon the left
of our army, consisting of the grenadiers and light infan-
try, with six field pieces and posted themselves on a small
height in a cleared field, about a quarter of a mile from our
advance guard, where they began a cannonade upon the
riflemen, and the three New Hampshire regiments were
ordered out to attack them, and after a very warm dispute
of about half an hour, the enemy were obliged to quit the
field and retreat to their works, which they did in great con-
fusion, their horses being chiefly killed, and were obliged
to leave their field pieces which fell into our hands, together
with about 50 prisoners, and our army followed hard after
them, and coming on the lines where the German were
stationed, forced them and took a number of prisoners, two
field pieces and several waggons loaded with ammunition
and baggage and by the time we had what we had taken at
the line it was almost dark and the troops that had been in
action were relieved by fresh troops from our encampment,

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 147

who tarried at the lines we had taken all night, the British
lying about a hundred rods distant. The next day the
enemy moved their baggage and artillery back from their
front lines, and in the night marched their whole army to
Saratoga, leaving their sick and wounded in some large
hospital tents, with several surgeons to attend them."

From full reports of the battle it appears that on
October 7, 1777, the whole British army moved from their
quarters at Saratoga, towards the left wing of the Amer-
ican army, where Colonel Cilley was. Burgoyne pressed
with 1,500 picked men, eight brass cannon, and two how-
itzers, leaving his main army on the heights, in command
of Brigadiers Sprecht and Hamilton, and the redoubts
near the river with Brigadier-General Hall. This move-
ment was discerned before the British were ready for
battle. The drums of the American advance guard beat
to arms. The alarm ran all along the lines. General
Gates inquired the cause of the alarm, and then ordered
Colonel Morgan, with his sharpshooting riflemen to "begin
the game."

Morgan soon gained a good position on the British
right, while General Poor with his New Hampshire brigade,
followed by General Ten Broeck with New Yorkers
advanced against their left. It was between three and four
o'clock in the afternoon when General Poor and those with
him astonished General Burgoyne, as he was about to
advance, by thunder of cannon on his left, and the crack
of rifles on his right. Poor had pressed up the thick
wooded slope unobserved on which the British forces
under command of Majors Acland and Williams were
posted. The British did not observe the New Hampshire
troops until they were near the batteries, which were cap-
tured after a struggle, in which the leader of the British
grenadiers was severely wounded, and Major Williams of
the artillery was made prisoner. Five times one of the
cannon was taken and retaken. When the British fell
back, and the gun remained with the Americans, Colonel

148 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

Cilley leaped upon it, waved his sword over his head, dedi-
cated the piece to the "American Cause," and, turning it
upon the foe, he opened its destructive energy upon the
enemy with, their own ammunition, amid an avalanche of
applause from the New Hampshire brigade, and others
who saw the act.

Sir Francis Clarke, Burgoyne's chief aide, who was
sent to secure the cannon, was mortally wounded by it and
made prisoner, and was sent to Gates's tent. The whole
eight cannon and the possession of the field remained with
the Americans. That was Colonel Cilley's part in that
remarkable battle which caused the surrender of Bur-
goyne's whole army ten days later, October 17, at Saratoga,
at which Colonel Cilley took a conspicuous part.

That was the end of Colonel Cilley's military cam-
paign of 1777. He went south with his regiment by slow
marches, and finally went into camp at Valley Forge,
December 23, 1777.

COL. CILLEY AT VALLEY FORGE AND MONMOUTH

On November 21, 1777, Colonel Cilley marched his
regiment, in General Sullivan's brigade, to Whitemarsh, a
beautiful valley about 13 miles from Independence Hall in
Philadelphia, and there he joined the main army under
command of General Washington. December 5, early in
the morning, he had information that the greater part of
the British army was leaving Philadelphia to meet Wash-
ington's army; upon receiving this news, Colonel Cilley,
with the rest of the brigade, had his regiment strike their
tents and load them into wagons, together with their bag-
gage, and moved off, and the army paraded. In the after-
noon the enemy appeared on an eminence in front of them,
but at a distance of three miles, where they remained all
night, and Washington's army held its position, awaiting
and expecting to be attacked. December 6, the British
marched towards the left of the American army, but made
no attack, while Washington's army remained under arms

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 149

all day. On the 7th a few shots were exchanged but no
battle. On the 8th the American army remained quietly
under arms all day and night, up to 2 o'clock on the morn-
ing of the 9th, when the rifle regiment and three brigades
marched out in order to attack the enemy on their own
grounds at daybreak; when the British saw them coming
prepared for battle they moved off towards Philadelphia.

On the morning of December 1 1, about an hour before
day, Colonel Cilley, with others, received orders to prepare
his regiment for a march, about daybreak, to meet a party
of the enemy who were foraging on the other side of the
Schuylkill river. They marched about ten miles and came
to a bridge; two brigades crossed; the rest were following,
but the enemy met them and took possession of the
heights in front, and of each side of the road leading from
the bridge; this move compelled our army to retreat over
the river again, and there halted, so that neither army
dared to attempt to cross the river. Colonel Cilley kept
his regiment there until almost night, when he, with a part
of the army, marched up the river to Sweed's ford, two
miles, to prevent the enemy from crossing at that place.
While there, on the 12th, about sunset, some of the Amer-
ican horsemen brought into camp two Hessians they had
taken, who gave intelligence that there were about 4,000 of
the enemy over the Schuylkill after forage; General Sulli-
van, who was in command of the brigade of which Cilley's
regiment was a part, immediately crossed the river and
marched in pursuit of the enemy; on reaching the Gulph
mills he learned that the enemy had returned to Phili-
delphia with their plunder. General Sullivan and his
brigade remained there until December 16, when the whole
army marched to Valley Forge and proceeded to encamp
for the winter.

When all had reached there, the grounds were staked
out on the 23d for the army to build log huts in which to
pass the winter; there were about 11,000 men to be pro-
vided for, which work required about a week to get the vil-

150 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

lage in order; the huts were built of round logs and most
of them were covered with straw and earth; they
were in two lines, extending from the Schuylkill river
about a mile and a half. This locality is about 22 miles
from Independence Hall. In the beginning of February
each brigade was ordered to build a breastwork in front of
their own huts, which was done in a few days. The whole
army lay there, except two brigades at Washington, down
the Delaware river, and also about three hundred men at
Reednar, 7 miles from camp; and 200 at Gulph Mills, about
the same distance; each of these two last-named parties
was relieved every week. There were likewise guards kept
about one mile distant from camp, which formed a chain of
sentinels around the whole encampment; these were
relieved daily. The army lay in this posture during the
winter and until May, 1778. No attack was made on
them; but it was an awful winter which Colonel Cilley and
his men had to endure.

That place was chosen because it was farther from the
dangers of sudden attack from the enemy, and also it
could more easily afford protection for the Congress sitting
at York, having been driven out at Philadelphia, which was
then occupied by the British army. Bloodstains made by
the lacerated feet of its poorly shod soldiers, marked the
line of their march to Valley Forge. In the camp they
suffered with cold and often had very short rations, for
food was as scarce as their clothing was poor.

The British, under General Howe, had full possession
of Philadelphia and of the Delaware river below, and
Pennsylvania was divided among its people, and in its
Legislature, by political factions. General uneasiness pre-
vailed; and when Washington sought refuge at Valley
Forge, the Pennsylvania Legislature adopted a remon-
strance against the measure. To this cruel missive Wash-
ington replied, after censuring the quartermaster-general
(Mifflin), a Pennsylvanian, for neglect of duty in not sup-
plying the soldiers with proper food and clothing, he says:

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 151

"For the want of a two-days supply of provisions, an
opportunity scarcely ever offered of taking an advantage of
the enemy, that has not been either totally obstructed or
greatly impeded. Men are confined in hospitals or in
farmers' houses for want of shoes. We have this day
(Dec. 23) no less than 2,873 men in camp unfit for duty
because they are barefooted and otherwise naked. Our
whole strength in continental troops amounts to no more
than 8,200 in camp fit for duty. Since the 4th inst. our
numbers fit for duty, from hardships and exposures, have
decreased nearly 2,000 men. Numbers are still obliged to sit
all night by their campfires to keep from freezing. Gentle-
men reprobates going into winter quarters as much as if
they thought the soldiers were made of sticks or stones.
I can assure those gentlemen that it is a much easier and
less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfort-
able room, by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak
hill, and sleep under frost and snow without clothes or
blankets. However, although they seem to have little
feeling for the naked and distressed soldiers, I feel super-
abundantly for them; and from my soul I pity those mis-
eries which is neither in my power to relieve, or prevent."

That is what General Washington said, and thus we
have the picture of the scenes and conditions which Col-
onel Cilley and his soldiers had to endure until the warm
weather of spring. On May 6 a great rejoicing prevailed
in the camp on account of the news of the alliance of
France. Washington ordered all the prisoners to be
released that were then in confinement in the Continental
Army. The whole army was drawn up in two lines and
fired a volley, from right to left of the front, and then
from left to right of the rear lines; which was repeated
three times. It was a great day of rejoicing, especially for
Colonel Cilley's regiment whose men had suffered severely
from sickness, but had now largely recovered.

In the battle of Monmouth which followed on June
28, Colonel Cilley's regiment was closely engaged and he

152 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

and his men behaved with such bravery as to merit the par-
ticular approbation of the illustrious Washington after the
battle was over and the treachery of Gen. Charles Lee was
thwarted, he having ordered a retreat when an advance
should have been made against General Howe's Army,
which was on its march from Philadelphia to New York.
It was when Washington met Lee on that retreat that the
illustrious commander showed his temper at its white heat
and bestowed on the traitorous commander some righteous
oaths, as became the occasion. No doubt Colonel Cilley
applauded as Washington swore.

Lieutenant Thomas Blake says in his Journal of that
period: "June 18 . . .At 4 o'clock in the afternoon Gen.
Lee's division marched, consisting of Gen. Poor's, Varnum's
and Huntington's brigades three miles over Schuylkill
bridge and encamped." — "June 19, . . . Marched iSmiles."
— "June 20, . . . At 12 o'clock we came to the Delaware
river, and crossed at Carrell's ferry; marched 3 miles and
encamped in Amwell." — "June 21, . . . Gen. Lee's division
lay still, and Gen. Washington crossed the river (Delaware)
and another division of the army." — "June 22. . . . The
whole army crossed the river and encamped in Amwell,
excepting a party (under Gen. Arnold) that marched to
take possession of Philadelphia, from which Howe's army
had departed." "June 23, . . . The whole army marched
down towards the enemy, leaving the tents and baggage,
as far as Hopewell township, and halted; but Col. Morgan
with his regiment q( riflemen and a detachment under his
command, marched toward the enemy."

"June 24. . . . The army lay still; the tents came up
and were pitched; a detachment went forward under Gen.
Scott."

"June 25 . . . March to Kingston, and another detach-
ment went forward under command of Marquis Dela-
fayette."

"June 26 . . . Marched to Cranberry Town and Gen.
Lee went forward with two brigades."

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 153

"June 27. . . . Marched to Cranberry meadows."
"June 28. . . . Marched to English town and there
left our packs and coats, the weather being very warm,
and proceeded as fast as possible in pursuit of the enemy,
who were then near Monmouth Court House. The for-
ward detachment had attacked the enemy, and Gen. Wash-
ington met them on the retreat, about one and a half miles
from the Court House. Our artillery set in very briskly,
causing a heavy cannonade on both sides, holding for some
time until the enemy retreated. Our army pursued about
a mile, and then left them. The enemy encamped that
night near the Court House; and in the night moved off,
leaving all their wounded that were not able to march,
numbering about 60, of whom were five commissioned
officers."

"June 29, . . . Two brigades marched down to the
Court House, as a covering party while they buried the
dead. The number of those buried were about three hun-
dred, that of ours sixty. After the dead were buried the
whole army marched back to Englishtown."
"June 30. . . . Lay still at Englishtown."
"July 1, . . . The whole army marched to Spotwod,
the weather being so excessively hot, the road for the
most part being through Pitch pine plain, that near one
third of the men were so overcome that they were obliged
to stop, many were not able to march until the cool of the
evening, and some were so overcome that they were obliged
to be conveyed in wagons."

This was the end of Colonel Cilley's regiment's con-
flict with the enemy in 1778. By various routes they
marched from time to time, through New Jersey, New
York and Connecticut, to Redding in that State, where
they arrived December 2, built huts, went into camp and
spent the winter comfortably and quietly. For a while in
November General Poor's brigade, of which Colonel Cil-
ley's regiment was a part, had charge of German troops
that were captured with General Burgoyne, they being on

154 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

their way to Virginia. Colonel Cilley's next campaign
began in May, 1779.

COLONEL JOSEPH CILLEY IN THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE
NEW YORK INDIANS

Colonel Cilley's regiment remained in camp at Red-
ding, Conn., from December 4, 1778, until the 10th of
April, 1779, and then marched to the high lands on North
River, where they went into huts and remained until May
9, when they broke camp and marched to Easton, Penn.
Arriving here on the 18th, they took quarters in the Court
House and other spare buildings. On the 19th General
Sullivan arrived and took command of the Western army,
which had been aasembled there. The time from that
date to the 29th of May was spent in getting things in
order for the difficult march against the Indians. On the
28th they marched 12 miles to Wyoming; on the 29th they
marched 15 miles to Pocono Point; on the 30th they went
10 miles to Tuckhannock; on the 31st they marched six-
miles to Locust Hill, where Colonel Cilley's regiment came
up with Colonel Courtland and Colonel Spencer's regi-
ments, who were cutting a road through to W r yoming.
They pitched their tents and went to work with those regi-
ments cutting trees and making corduroy paths where
necessary. They worked on this road building until June
7, when they moved their tents forward eight miles; June
9 they moved the tents forward two miles and encamped
June 11 they moved their tents forward five miles to Bul-
lock's house, where the tents remained three days. On
the 14th they marched seven miles to Wyoming, having
made the distance of 65 miles through the forests from
Easton. On June 17th Colonels Cilley's, Courtland's and
Spencer's regiments marched up the river to Jacob's
Plains, four miles and encamped and remained so until
June 23, when General Sullivan arrived with five regiments.
On July 4, Colonels Cilley's and Courtland's regiments
crossed the river and marched down two miles towards

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 155

Wyoming and encamped with the rest of General Poor's
brigade.

On July 5 General Poor made an entertainment for
the officers of his brigade in honor of the Declaration of
Independence, and after dinner the following toasts were
drunk, and appropriate responses were made by various
officers: I. The United States. 2. July 4, 1776, the
memorable. 3. The grand council of America. 4. Gen-
eral Washington and the Army. 5. The King and
Queen of France. 6. General Sullivan and the Western
expedition. 7. May the Councillors of America be wise,
and their soldiers invincible. 8. A successful and deci-
sive campaign. 9. Civilization or death to all savages.
10. The immortal memory of those heroes who have fallen
in defense of American liberty. 1 1. May the husbandman's
cottage be blessed with peace, and his fields with plenty.
12. Vigor and virtue to all the sons and daughters of
America. 13. May the New World be the last asylum of
freedom and the arts. Among the speakers who responded
to the sentiments were General Sullivan and Colonel Cil-
ley. This is the first recorded celebration of the 4th of
July.

On July 2^ General Poor's Brigade, of which Cilley's
regiment was a part, marched down to Wyoming and
encamped with the rest of the army. Four days were
spent there in getting ready to begin the march up the
river, and on the 31st they marched ten miles to Lacawa-
neck. August 1, they marched seven miles to Ouiluta-
mack and met with so much difficulty in passing some
large mountains that ran down to the river, that the rear
of the army did not come up with the advance until the
next morning, for which reason General Poor's brigade
remained in camp there a second day; then they contin-
ued on their journey about 12 miles a day, till Augustn,
when they forded the river and marched to Tioga Point,
five miles and there encamped on the point between the
Seneca and Tioga branches. Now they had reached the

156 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

Indian country and began to put everything in order for a
fight. They had cut a road through the forests about 175
miles from Easton, Penn., a very difficult and wearisome
job.

General Sullivan gave orders, toward night of August
12 for the army to march. Poor's regiment left Tioga just
after sunset, with one day's provisions, leaving their tents
standing, with the baggage in them; a few men were left
on guard who were least able to work. Cilley's regiment,
with Poor's brigade, marched all night; it was very dark and
the travelling was very difficult. Just at day break, on the
morning of August 13, they reached Chemung, a small
Indian village, 14 miles from Tioga; the Indians became
alarmed and ran away before the army could surround the
settlement and capture them by surprise, as General Sulli-
van had planned should be done. They had previously
removed all of their women and children, leaving only
about fifty of their warriors as a guard, under command of
Butler, the Tory leader and Brant the head man of the
Five Nation's Warriors. The Indians had large fields of
green corn about there, and Colonel Cilley's men with the
others, gathered a lot of the ears for roasting purposes, as
they were quite hungry, after their hard march all night.
While they were picking off the ears the Indians, in
ambush, attacked them, and killed one or two men and
wounded several more. Colonel Cilley promptly rallied
his men and rushed for the enemy, who fled in great haste.
The army then set to work and burned all the buildings in
the village, about twenty, and destroyed all of the cornfields
and other garden stuff, cutting and throwing it into heaps.
In the afternoon they marched back to Tioga, having
accomplished a very fatiguing amount of work in twenty-
four hours, without sleep. They had destroyed a large
amount of property, but so far as Colonel Cilley observed
his men had killed only one Indian and one Tory.

At Tioga they rested three days, waiting for General
Clinton's troops from Cherry Valley. August 15 a party

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 157

of Indians came down to the south side of the river, oppo-
site the encampment, and fired upon some of Colonel Cil-
ley's men, who were tending cattle. They killed one and
wounded another. August 16 Colonel Cilley's regiment,
with General Poor's brigade, marched up the river to meet
General Clinton's brigade, which had come over from the
Mohawk River. They were piloted by some friendly Indi-
ans for quite a distance, and then General Poor thought it
would be better, and more expeditious, to send three
chosen veterans to meet General Clinton and pilot him
to meet his brigade. The three men chosen for this pur-
pose were Sergeant Joseph Henderson, Sergeant Thomas
Scott, and Peter Stevens, all of whom belonged to the
First New Hampshire Regiment commanded by Colonel
Cilley.

These fearless heroes, with only three days' rations,
set out on their hazardous journey; they got lost in the for-
ests and did not meet Clinton's army, but after wandering
about several days they struck the track of Clinton's army
and following it arrived at head quarters, after having been
absent a dozen days; they were completely exhausted
Meanwhile General Poor's and General Clinton's brigades,
succeeded in meeting, and the combined forces arrived at
Tioga August 22d.

All preparations having been completed, General
Sullivan gave orders to march, three Indians belonging to
the Oneida tribe having joined the army to assist as guides.
The army advanced into the Seneca country, leaving a gar-
rison of 500 men at Tioga point; they marched four
miles that day, six the next, four on the third and four
miles on the fourth day, August 29, when the advance
guards were fired upon by the enemy from a breastwork
they had thrown up, about a quarter of a mile in length,
extending from the river to a large range of mountains,
which lay parallel with the river; here Sullivan's army halt-
ed and prepared for battle.

158 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

That march from Tioga, through the inhospitable wild-
erness, was in the following manner: A hollow square was
formed; General Hand's brigade in front, General Poor's
brigade on the right; General Maxwell's on the left, and
General Clinton's in the rear. Within the hollow square
was placed Colonel Procter's regiment of artillery, together
with the horses carrying general supplies, also the beef
cattle. The regiments marched in platoons, eight deep,
and each man had to keep his place, hence the march was
slow and fatiguing, but General Sullivan insisted on this
order, so that in case of an attack, which was reasonable to
be expected at any time, a front of three brigades could be
speedily formed.

The breastworks of the Indians were made deceptive
by being covered with small pines stuck into the ground.
It was Sunday morning, August 29, when this force of the
enemy was discovered. After a brief consultation of the
officers, General Sullivan ordered General Poor's brigade
to march to the rear of the hill, at the foot of which the
enemy were behind their breastworks; the brigade marched
around about three miles and then began to ascend it; as
they did so the Indians, concealed behind trees, sent forth
the most hideous yells, which echoed from the opposite
mountain sides as though the woods were full of the sav-
age warriors, at the same time they fired on our men.
They kept up their war-whoops and shooting as our sol-
dieas advanced, returning the fire; when General Poor's
brigade was about half way up the hill, the order was
given to charge bayonets, and they did so with a rush and
gave the American yell, which sent terror into the enemy
and they disappeared as fast as their legs could carry them,
completely deserting the breastworks they had so finely
planned and constructed. This was the battle of Newton,
of which General Sullivan's official account gives minute
details. Colonel Cilley led his men in that march up the
hill, and was active in the execution of the order from
beginning to end of the encounter. His men captured

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 159

two prisoners, one negro and one a white man. The latter
was found lying on his face and pretending to be dead;
but Colonel Cilley punched him a bit, and he proved to be
very much alive. His face was blacked, but the rest of his
person proved to be white, so they judged him to be a Tory
and put a rope around his neck and threatened to hang
him; but the threat was not put into execution.

They remained on the battle ground until sunset,
when, no enemy being in sight, they returned to the plain
and encamped, and sent the wounded down to Tioga in
boats. In burying the dead, they burnt brush over the
graves, so that the Indians might not distinguish them
from the places where the camp fires had been burned.

August 31 they advanced ten miles, and the next day
they marched 13 miles to French Katharine's, where they
rested a day. Before they started on this march up around
the small lakes, General Sullivan had told them they would
have very hard work and short rations, and those who
thought they were unable to endure it would be permitted
to return to the camp at Tioga. Colonel Cilley drew up
his regiment in line, and then walked from right to left of
it, looked every man in the face, gave each a pleasant word
and expressed his fears that some could not endure the
march, and he thought it would be better for them to
remain behind in camp; but not a man would consent to
remain behind. Near the left of the line, Colonel Cilley
found a boy, only fifteen years old, and he strongly urged
him not to undertake the campaign. The boy begged to
be permitted to go forward with the regiment, so finally
Colonel Cilley said: Go my lad, and God go with you"
The boy, whose name was Richard Drout, went with the
regiment and came out all right at the end of the
campaign.

It is not necessary to follow that campaign day by day,
to show what Colonel Cilley and his regiment did; a few
incidents will be given. The Indian and Tory army kept
a little ahead of Sullivan's advance, and, frequently Col-

160 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

onel Cilley's regiment came across their camp fires, where
they had left boiling their kettles of succotash, which, of
course, the soldiers found very acceptable, and disposed of
it with much relish. When they came near an Indian vil-
lage, parties were always sent out to burn the huts and to
destroy their corn. Near Geneva lake they encamped in a
very large apple orchard, hence they called the place
Appleton. There they caught several Indian horses by
driving them into the lake, where expert swimmers caught
them. They destroyed that orchard completely.

The army was obliged to ford Canandaigua Lake, a
short distance from its outlet, where the water was nearly
up to the men's shoulders, so each man had to be careful
of his powder. Both sides of the crossing were covered
with an underbrush of grapevines and thorn bushes, which
made the passage very difficult. Colonel Cilley's regiment,
being in front of the right wing, was ordered to ha t and
to see that all guns of the army in passing were well
loaded and fresh primed, as the expectation was that
the enemy would attack our army as soon as the men
emerged from the lake. The crossing was completed
about sunset.

( To be continued)

A Monologue
By Dorris L. Burke

R THOMAS Benton laboriously polished his
glasses on a corner of the Turkey-red table
cloth. His brow was furrowed with a matter
of vast importance. Alice Lucretia was home for Fast
Day vacation and it was expedient to make out that Town
Bill. His granddaughter removed her sweeping cap as she
crossed the shining yellow floor.

"It ought to have been done three weeks back. Wil-
liam H. told me to hand it in and he'd see 'twas paid. But
its a perticuler piece of writtin', bein' Town business, and
I dassen't tackle it by lamp light and any way your hand's
a mite plainer than mine. The ink's on the mantle tree.
'Don't seem to be much in the bottle. Aint been any used
since your mother writ that recipe for spring bitters last
Febra'ry. Maybe it's kind of dried up. There's some
purple ink in the sullarway.

"You guess you can make this do? I dunno what dif-
ference the color makes so long's it's plain. Won't that
pen write? Your mother writ with it. I dunno what
they do to all the pens.

"You've got one that will do? Now, how are you
going to start it? Town of Strafford to Thomas Benton,
debtor. Is that the way? Well — I suppose you know.
You say you teach bookkeeping? I dunno's that's either
here or there. D-r stands for doctor, I thot. March sev-
enteen, nineteen hundred and six. Three tons five cut
best hay. What's that? C-w-t, you say? Means hundred
weight? Be just as well to write it out, wouldn't it? Three
tons, five hundredweight best hay at seventeen dollars and

161

162 THE TOWN BILL

fifty cents per ton. Ninety-one dollars and eighty-eight
cents. Sure you've reckoned it right? You know a little
mistake might throw the bill right out. Accounts have to
be ac'rate. Let me see your figurin'. Aint very good
sevens, some way. It's ninety-one dollars and eighty-seven
cents and one-half here, and you've writ it ninety-one dol-
lars and eighty-eight cents. I knew you'd blunder if I
didn't watch out. Always call the half cent another one?
Well, yes, gen'rally. But in Town business I dunno's
we'd better. It don't pay to be too cropin'. They might
think I was takin' advantage. I wouldn't want to cheat
the town tho 'tis pretty clear of debt. I aint like some
folks. They say Sim Morris handed in a bill for white-
washin' of eight dollars and sixty-five cents, and he only
worked a little more than two days. But that aint my way.

"We might call it ninety-one dollars and eighty-seven
cents? They'd probably figger it up again. Then they'd
see that wan't right. 'Twont do to make any mistakes.
You've changed it to ninety-one dollars eighty-seven cents
and a half? Let me see if it looks all right. I dunno
about that one-half. Seems as if it wasn't exactly business
like. They say William H. is terrible heedless. Received
p-a-y-m-t. Means payment I suppose. Be better to write
the whole word, wouldn't it? Now read it out. Sounds all
right you think? Lemme see how it looks. That' a queer
lookin' B in Benton. The Se'lecmen aint used to new
fashioned writin', you know

"You can write it all over again? Well — perhaps it
would be better to. Paper don't cost such a great sight,
and it can't be too plain. Yes, guess that B will do now.
But you squeezed the d-r terribly. Ought to have taken
more room. Town of Strafford to Thomas Benton, debtor,
March seventeen, nineteen hundred and six. Aint the
seventeenth of March St. Patrick's day? It's a holiday then?
No? Sure? Just bring me the almanac will you? That
cramp last night stiffened my knees all up. Forgot to turn
my shoes upside down when I went to bed.

THZ TOWN BILL 163

"You don't see how that could prevent cramp? Aint
never had the cramp have you? How do you know any-
thing about what will cure it then? Yes, you can laugh if
you want to, but I know I never have a mite of trouble
when I turn my shoes bottom up by the bed. And when
you know a thing its pretty hard gettirT around it.

"January, Feb'rary, March. Don't seem to say any-
thing its being St. Patrick's Day. Should think that
was queer enough. What's that? Why don't you move
your lips when you talk? How do you suppose anybody's
goin' to hear?

"The holidays are in your register, and St. Patrick's
Day aint one of 'em? Well, I dunno. And you always
keep school that day? They do strange things now. I
guess it must be a kind of a holiday. But maybe it won't
make any difference with the Town. There aint any Cath-
olics, as I know, holdin' office this year.

"Received payment. Had you ought to put that on?
Don't it look as if I was kind of presumin'?

"The Town always has paid its bills? Far's I know.
But I aint never transacted any business with 'em before,
and it aint always best to be too sure. A Town's a little dif-
ferent from an individual, you know, don't you?

"It won't take you but a minute to write another bill?
You're always in such a twitter. Guess if you hadn't hur-
ried this one so much it would have been a little nearer
right. Lemme see. Seems if your writin' aint nigh as
pooty as twas once. You do make such foolish lookin' f's.
I dunno's as I ever saw any before or since that looked
just like 'em.

"Reg'lar copy book f's? But maybe the Se'lecmen
wouldn't know it. What? Yes, I guess you'd better leave
it off this time. Though, I dunno. I suppose Received
Payment ought to be in the same writin' as the rest. And
you prob'bly be off somewhere when they come in to pay
it. Still, I'd have to sign my name myself, and of course
that would be different. I'm sure I dunno how it would stand

164 ALASKAN GOLD

the law. I suppose Judge Thompkins would know. Might
ask him sometime. Yes, be just as well to leave off till we
get the right of it. Now read it all out. I dunno as I just
like the looks of that dollar sign. Looks more like a hoop
skirt than anything else to me.

"You guess it's well enough? Grandsir Gilman used to
say that meant it ought to be better but you hadn't sprawl
enough to do it. Dretful queer lookin' d on the end of
Strafford, too. Is there another sheet of paper?

"You aint used it all? Haste makes waste, and that's
what I've always said. Perhaps it would have been full as
well to call it ninety-one dollars and eighty-seven cents
after all. Someway that one-half don't look any too ship-
shape. There'd ought to be another piece of paper some-
where.

"I dunno, maybe, after all, I'd better make the bill out
myself. It might make some difference, seein' its the
Town. Just bring me my other glasses; the ones with a
string on 'em. In my day they learned 'em somethin'."

By Winthrop Packard

A million years in the smelting pots

Of the great earth's furnace core

It bubbled and boiled as the old gods toiled

Before it was time to pour.

A million years in the giant molds
Of granite and mica-chist
It cooled ana lay in the selfsame way
That into their hearts it hissed.

A million years and the clouds of steam
Were rivers, and lakes and seas
And the mastodon to his grave had gone
In the coal that once was trees.

Then the Master Moulder raised his hand,
He shattered the gray rock mold
And sprinkled its core from shore to shore.
And the dust that fell was gold.

CHARACTER, SKETCHES

No. IX
"THE PURITAN"

? , ^^.^pr^^y,^ ,. .^ rt? ,_.._,-,- ;,,... .... „-. ... ^,-^,.~ ?J;rr .-...,.„ j! . .---;-.....•■.;,■ .^..^l^^r^jT

3 N ■•}

^.u i~,.. .. .. .- ->V^.>^*'- u-- . -. - _

From a Painting by G. H. BouGHTON

THE PURITAN

Character Sketches

§&► " The Puritan "

"Life is the mirror of king and slave,
'Tis yust what you are and do;
Give to the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you."

7'?vR<5 MONG the many heroic examples of pioneer life
afforded by the history of the world, there is
not one that stands forth with nobler precept or
grander figure than the Puritan. He is the
embodiment of truth and sincerity in the type. His was not
the fleeing from grievious oppression, from the tyranny of
false kings, but the quiet shifting of the scene of his life, the
earnest desire to better his fortune, and in a new country
build and foster those inherent principles of better government
and higher religious ideals.

It is possible he was himself narrower in spirit than he
dreamed; it is possible he held within his own doctrine the
very contracted ideas that he believed governed others. He
would not have been human otherwise. He would
never have reached the high goal that he did had he not
striven for higher and sterner precepts than filled his life,
for we never rise above our ideals. Between the real and
thejdeal we finally find our place.

Perhaps no pioneer felt more than he the risk of his
undertaking. He anticipated something of the danger he was
courting; something of the difficulty he was to encounter;
something of the sacrifice he was to make. Our artist has
illustrated in his spirited painting one phase of the peril that
beset his life. Of the seven days and nights in the week not

one was fraught with more menace from the dusky foemen
that corstantly haunted his home than the Sabbath. It was
then the earnest purpose of his being to worship according
to the dictates of his heart, urging him to congregate with his
brethren at the little log meeting- house to listen to the devout
man of God. The wily redman knew of this custom no less
than he, and frequently improved this favorable opportunity
to wreak a vengeance, not wholly unjust, upon his paleface
enemies. The young couple here portrayed are upon
their way to church and have been waylaid by the cun^
ning Amerinds. It is now wit against wit, cunning against
cunning, courage against thirst for blood. That moral
bravery will win we know, for it ever does. And yet,
all that we have in Christian civilization that is worth
the winning has been won by sacrifice. Every material
article that helps to bring us bodily comfort; every good
work that invigorates the mind; every noble advance^
ment of human endeavor; every moral movement that dL
pels the darkness of ignorance and ushers in the morning of
new and brighter light has been paid for at a sacrifice; won
by predestined struggle; upheld only by constant vigilance.

"The hearts that beat two hundred years ago
Were players in a mighty symphony;
Each heard its separate part, no more: while we,
Who heard the solemn measures swell and flow.
Confined in one majestic hymn, bestow
Upon the whole the name of history,"

Hon. ROBERT P. BASS

By A Staff Contributor

CHE subject of this sketch, the Hon. Robert P. Bass,
is a descendant of one of the families who early
settled our State and members of which have
been prominently associated in its industrial and political
development.

It is said that a rugged race is the product of rugged
influences. The stern character of the typical New Eng-
lander could not have been nurtured under milder envi-
ronments. It was the frowning hills, the rock-shielded
soil, the sweep of the north wind, not less than the dan-
gers and seasonings of adventurous lives that made the
people of northern Europe world-conquering pioneers.
This indomitable spirit manifested itself in the early comers
to New England, the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the York-
shire farmers, and the Scotch-Irish, so called. We see
this fact typified to a marked degree in the town of
Peterboro, where the population has sprung from an
ancestry tried in the rigors of a northern clime amid toil-
embattled homes. Added to their unswerving principles
are the ennobling elements that come from the beauty and
grandeur of its scenery.

Among the first to be attracted to the picturesque
region lying between those sentinels of the wilderness,
Pack Monadnock on the east and Grand Monadnock
on the west, were a few Scotch-Irish families, who quickly
proved themselves worthy of being heirs to this promising
country. The brothers John and William Smith were
among these pioneers. They came hither with their wives
from Lunenburg, Mass., in 175 1. The arduous task of
hewing themselves homes out of an unbroken wilderness,
the hardships and lessons of their lives are deserving of

169

170 ROBERT PERKINS BASS

more extended description than can be here given.
Blessed with large and vigorous families history records
that from these two resolute settlers have descended sev-
eral men who have been potent factors in the development
and prosperity of the Granite State.

Of the nine children of William Smith, who built his
humble cabin upon one of the summits of land in the south-
ern, central section of the town, two settled on farms near
the homestead. John, the second son, made his home on
what is now Orchard Hill, the home of Hon. Robert P.
Bass and his mother.

Jonathan Smith, the fifth son of William, succeeded
his father upon the old homestead. He married Nancy
Smith, a daughter of John who came with William to
settle in this town. Eleven children were born in this
home, eight of whom, four sons and four daughters, lived
to manhood and womanhood and were prominent in various
walks of life. Nancy Smith, the grandmother of Mr. Bass,
was one of these children. She married John H. Foster,
M. D., a native of Hillsboro, who after practicing medicine
in New London and Dublin, this State, settled in Chicago
where he was eminently successful. They had three chil-
dren and Clara, the oldest married Perkins Bass, of Wil-
liamstown, Vt.

Perkins Bass, Esq., while reared upon a farm in the
Green Mountain State, was educated in New Hampshire,
having worked his way through Kimball Union Academy
and graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of
1852. He went to Chicago a poor man and without friends,
but he quickly proved that he was equal to his opportunity,
and soon became an important factor in the development
of that rising metropolis of the West. Deeply interested
in educational matters, he served in various capacities upon
boards of education in city and state. One of the public
schools of Chicago had been named after him. A lawyer
of marked ability and popular in the legal fraternity, he
was a friend of Abraham Lincoln, and conducted the lat-

ROBERT PERKINS BASS 171

ter's campaign for the presidential nomination in Illinois in
i860. He was appointed United States district attorney
for the northern district of Illinois in recognition of his ser-
vices. He continued his practice in Chicago for about
nineteen years, when his failing health compelled him to
retire from active work in his profession. He then sought a
home in the country and the family naturally turned to the
old place in Peterboro, where Mrs. Bass had been a fre-
quent visitor.

At this time in 1880 the original family homestead
could not be secured so the farm settled by John Smith
and joining the other on the north was purchased. Later
the original homestead was acquired by Mrs. Adams, a sis-
ter of Mrs. Bass. The two estates have been added to and
developed until they are now prosperous and attractive
New Hampshire homes.

Mr. Bass, senior, found much enjoyment in the farm
home in Peterboro. Although but seven years old when
the family came to the farm, Robert Perkins Bass,
the younger son, was closely associated with his father in
the development of this estate especially during his father's
declining health. His older brother John Foster Bass,
being the well-known war correspondent, who represented
some of the leading papers of New York and London in
hazardous expeditions in the Greek, Philippine and Russia-
Japan wars, and who is to-day an influential member of the
National Conservation Association, has an attractive home
in Peterboro.

Robert Perkins Bass fitted for college at a school in
Boston. Having graduated from Harvard in 1896 he took
a graduate course for a year and then entered the Law
School. At this time, his father's death caused him to
abandon his law course and devote his time to the family
estate. He then returned permanently to his home in
Peterboro and speedily evinced a lively appreciation of
farming possibilities. Having a deep interest in the sci-
ence and practice of forestry, he applied his knowledge

172 ROBERT PERKINS BASS

practically in the development of the large tracts of forest
which he owned. He was among the first to appreciate the
importance of the application of modern forestry methods as
bearing on the future welfare and prosperity of his state.
He has taken an active part in this line of progress. In
1906 Governor John McLane appointed him on the State
Forestry Commission, a position in which he has shown
much interest, and worked effectively to enhance the for-
est resources of the State. He has always labored enthu-
siastically for the establishment of a national forest reser-
vation in the White Mountains, and he is largely responsi-
ble for the enactment in the last session of the legislature
of a more progressive forestry law in New Hampshire.
In recognition of these services he has recently been
chosen director of the American Forestry Association. In
political faith he has always been a staunch Republican
and believes thoroughly in pure politics. He is sincere in
the advocacy of honest opinion at all times. Believing in
him and in the principles he represented his townsmen
elected him to the house of representatives in 1905 and
again in 1907. During the latter term he was particularly
active, serving with his usual zeal and earnestness upon
two important committees, Forestry and Retrenchment
and Reform, both positions notably adapted to his purpose.
He was clerk of the former and chairman of the latter
committee. In performing the work of the last-named
committee, he conducted one of the most comprehensive
and fair-minded investigations ever undertaken in the dif-
ferent departments of the state government, many of his
suggestions and criticisms having since been carried into
effect. This work was done impartially and after a very
painstaking search for the facts relative to the administra-
tion of State affairs. This work left Mr. Bass remarkably
well informed as to actual conditions existing in the differ-
ent departments of the State Government.

In 1909 he was elected to the state senate, where he
was found, as hitherto, a faithful and consistent worker.

.•■•*v .

. ■ *} { ■

■ - '

.V,.,

■J*

*\-.v<' /-

.■■

si 86

■ : ->

' **

•>'

'^" v ' \ ;:■'

fcraife

' • ' ■ v •*

■-

i r

, KjjM \ % rFrtfVrflfrftir ft£&*&&£i i*.^>£»iLfcii^ : ^iL&& n^t.,.

ROBERT PERKINS BASS 173

It has always been his contention that a pledge deliberately
made in a party platform should be promptly and fully
redeemed. During the last session of the Legislature he
was one of the leaders who worked so fearlessly and so
successfully for the enactment into law of all the planks in
the Republican platform. He was particularly interested
in the Direct Primary Law, having introduced the bill in the
Senate which was finally passed. He believed in the impor-
tance of this measure for the public good, holding that it
would return to the people the power directly to choose their
party candidates, and that this was vital to a truly represent-
ative form of Government. His own words, substantiated
by his unswerving integrity in the past, prove the sincerity
of his purpose:

"I am thoroughly in sympathy with those principles
of progress and equity which I believe will make my party
of even greater influence and value in impartially advanc-
ing the interests of all the citizens of our State and
Nation. I ask for the nomination at the primaries on
these broad grounds, that I may represent the whole party
and lead it unitedly to the polls.

"I desire to be governor only on condition that I can
be nominated and elected free from all political trades or
other burdens which might in any way hamper me in giv-
ing the State an economical, business-like administration.

"Only on conditions which will leave me absolutely
free to carry out these principles do I desire to become
governor of New Hampshire."

Recently many of his townsmen prominently associ-
ated with the business and professional interests, appreci-
ating his earnest devotion to his town and state expressed
their appreciation in an open letter in which they said in
part:

"Mr. Bass always voted in Peterboro. He has labored
hard and thoroughly believed in the Republican cause.
His aim has been to secure a free and open ballot and to
abide with the decision of the majoiity. He has always

174 ROBERT PERKINS BASS

labored persistently in carrying out the platform of his
party and thereby fulfilling its pledges.

"Mr. Bass has always taken an active interest in town
affairs. Wherever a helping hand was needed he was
always ready and there are many improvements in town
that owe much to his efforts. He has been prominent in
the work of the Board of Trade. His work as electric
light Commissioner has been of decided benefit to the
town.

"He is a member of the Peterboro Grange, and deeply
interested in the management of his extensive farm and
forest interests. His work as Chairman of the State For-
estry Commission is well known. Mr. Bass' activities as
Representative of the town and as Senator have been
highly appreciated and his many friends are glad to bear
testimony to his able and earnest work. Should he be
chosen Governor of the State we are confident he will dis-
charge the duties of that office in the same self-sacrificing
manner which has characterized his public service in the
past.

"As his fellow townsmen it gives us pleasure to make
this statement as a testimonial of our respect and esteem
for Mr. Bass."

We find among those signing this letter, the Repre-
sentatives of the Town at the last General Court, the
Board of Selectmen, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Electric
Light Commission, Town Library Committee, pastors of
the Congregational and Baptist Churches, Tax Collector,
all officers of the Republican Town Organization, Master
of the Peterboro Grange and the editor and manager of
the local paper.

Mr. Bass is descended from twogood old NewHampshire
families; one of which has given the state, Jeremiah Smith
who fitted himself for the practice of law in the Chamber of
the old ancestral home in Peterboro and then removed to Ex-
eter,and became one of the leadingcitizens of the State, hold-
ing numerous offices of trust and honor, among them being

THE HOMESTEADS ON NEW ENGLAND 175

those of Governor, Congressman and Chief Justice. His
son, the present Judge Jeremiah Smith is noted in his
profession on the Bench and as a learned member of the
Faculty of the Harvard Law School.

In view of the people from whom he is descended and
in view of his public record to the present time, Robert P.
Bass should prove himself to be, in the future as in the
past, a useful and influential man in promoting the best
interests of New Hampshire as well as a sturdy supporter
of good government.

^fje Ifomesteaog of $etrj <£nglanb

By Fred Myron Colby

The homesteads of New England,

How peaceful do they stand
On hillside and in valley,

O'er all our smiling land!
Within each one is plenty,

And comfort and good cheer;
And freedom's God is worshiped

By those who have no fear.

The homes of old New England,

Oh, grand among the trees
Rise up their stately gables

To meet the sun and breeze.
They gaze through blooming orchards

O're fair and wide demesnes,
The sunshine warmly smiling

Upon each lovely scene.

New England's pleasant homesteads,

What pilgrim shrines they are,
Along her purling rivers,

Ensconsed on hillsides fair!
They sheltered men and women,

The hands that built a State;
From out their cheery doorways

Have stepped the good and great.

176 THE TRYSTING PLACE

The homesteads of New England,

Long may their hearthstones blaze,
And long their hallowed memory

Shine down the future days.
The best of all New England

Sprang from these homes of toil,
The glory of their labors

Made grand her sacred soil.

The homes of old New England,
[ God bless them one and all;

The farm-house on the hillside,

The rich men's stately hall;
The cabin in the forest,

The villa by the sea;
Each homestead's precious title

Is held in loving fee.

Cfje ^rpsting Place

By Helen Merrill Choate

The evening shades and shadows of night,
Crept through the trees and shut out the light,
Long rays of crimson died in the west,
The birds flew home to their airy nest.

The moon peeped slyly from behind a cloud,
As tho' prying eyes were not allowed,
The curfew tolled in a warning tone,
As I watched and waited all alone.

None other knew in that silent dell,
But a whip-poor-will and he couldn't tell,
Of her who hastened with eager feet,
To our haven of rest at love's retreat.

Of the fond embrace near the rustic bars,
'Mid fragrant flowers in nature's jars,
Of plighted love both fond and deep,
'Neath friendly shades, that secrets keep.

!flK'

& I.J

.Si

Stee

•:

Jn J>tage=£oacf) l^aps

Early Posts and Post-Riders

By George Waldo Browne

/^r^HERE is no more interesting or picturesque char-
' %J . acter in the early history of a country than the
^^ post-rider. The mind's eye, at mention of the
subject, quickly kindles with a brighter light, as it pictures
one of these swift-moving messengers. In a rude manner
the dusky Amerind could claim to be the original post-
rider of this country. His steed was the birchen skiff,
which under his skillful hand glided swiftly and silently
along the vine-canopied stream of the primeval wilderness;
his letters were the wampum belts of chiefs, their mes-
sages, couched in picturesque language, seeking redress for
some real or fancied wrong or dictating in no uncertain
terms the claims of war. A yet ruder method of commu-
nication was the flaming brand that he shook aloft from
the summit of a mountain, the signal to be seen and
answered by a sentinel on another peak in the distance,
which in turn was recognized by a third, this one by a
fourth, and so on until the message had been carried for
hundreds of miles across a pathless country. But these
were ominous summons that portended deadly strife.

With the appearance upon the scene of the civilized
races this wild feature of correspondence vanished, and in
place of the torch and the wampum with its rude imagery
came the letters and newspapers of an educated people.
Still it was not until the beginning of the iSth century,
when schools were established in this country, that letter
writing was mastered by many. Before this inhabitants

177

178 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

depended largely upon verbal messages delivered by friends
rather than those of a written language. But there were
those who could handle the goose quill in a creditable man-
ner, and frequently those who could not write themselves
employed a scribe to place their thoughts upon paper.
Thus no ship came expectedly into port that did not find a
crowd in waiting, looking anxiously for some communica-
tion from the friends and loved ones in the homeland.

So numerous, for the times, did these letters and
packages become that the government, on November 5,
1639, ordered all letters to be sent to the house of Richard
Fairbanks on Cornhill, Boston, where people could call for
them. This was the first post-office in New England. As
the inhabitants became more scattered and letters became
more numerous, it was necessary to employ men to carry
these missives, and they were known as post-riders.

Mounted couriers, or men on foot, were employed by
government to send its messages to different sections of
the country, there being no newspapers. The journeys of
these riders were often performed at risk to life and limb,
to say nothing of the hardships endured. Frequently long
distances were made in remarkably short time, and these
agents or messengers won in friendly rivalry records that
were the crowning events of their lives.

Government fixed the compensation at three pence a
mile, while inn-holders were warned not to charge exorbi-
tant prices for their fare and ferry-men were ordered not to
delay them on their passage and to carry them free. The
post-rider was authorized to press into his service any
horse or horses that he might need in case of an
exigency.

Andrew Hamilton, formerly a successful merchant of
Edinburgh, and who came to New Jersey in 1686, was
made deputy postmaster-general April 4, 1692. He estab-
lished a regular post-office in Boston the following May.
He established the first post-office in New Hampshire at
Pascataqua then and laid out a route for post-riders run-

EARLY POSTS AND POST-RIDERS 179

ning from Pascataqua, N. H., through Boston to New York
and Philadelphia and then on to Richmond, Va.

The rate of postage made the cost for a single letter
of six pence from Pascataqua to Boston; from Boston to
Connecticut, nine pence; to Philadelphia, fifteen pence.
All public letters were sent free.

Duncan Campbell, a sturdy Scotchman of undoubted
integrity, was appointed deputy postmaster at Boston in
1693, and a salary was affixed to the office of ^"20 a year.
He was also "as an encouragement exempted from pay-
ing of taxes" and allowed to sell strong drinks. A further
proof of the desire of the government to make the work a
success was an act of the general court which provided
"that for three years all persons not bringing letters to the
post-office (except those excepted) shall pay four times the
regular rates,"

A fine of £5 was laid upon any ferryman who should
detain a post-rider, and the owners of horses pressed
into the service received six pence a mile for their use.

Notwithstanding all that was done to make a success
of the undertaking, the result was discouraging. John
Campbell, the successor of his brother Duncan, cited sev-
eral reasons for this partial failure. There was, in the first
place, a lack of financial support to carry on the work in
the best manner possible; the ferry-men were not as
prompt as they should be in serving the post-riders; the
people did not give sufficient encouragement and patron-
age: these and other reasons were given to show why the
department had fallen behind in expense. It cost ;£68o a
year to maintain the route from Pascataqua to Philadelphia.
Of this sum New England had to pay ^"453 6s. 8p. The
shortage amounted to .£275 a year.

We get a glimpse of the speed and certainty with
which mail matter was transported by the fact that when
this declaration of Deputy Postmaster Campbell reached
Philadelphia Postmaster-General Hamilton had been dead
a month. John Campbell, the sender of this message, was

180 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

the founder of the first newspaper printed in this country
the Boston Xexcs. Letter. It was no fault of the manage-
ment, taking in consideration the situation, that the
department did not pay. Postmaster Hamilton was suc-
ceeded in his high office by his widow, the first post-mistress
in America, and she administered affairs as judiciously as
her able husband had done. Their son, John, next occu-
pied the place.

In 1704 the eastern post left Boston for Pascataqua
every Monday morning, and the mail from the latter place
reached Boston Saturday.

The success, as well as the convenience and safety, of
the post-rider, depended largely upon the conditions of the
roads. Among the earliest roads or ways of travel was the
Old Connecticut Road or "Bay Path," as it was better
known. It was one of the first links connecting Boston,
with the West. This pathway was the principal if not the
only way of communication with the westward-lying coun-
try for over forty years. In 1673 anew passage, also called
"The Connecticut Road," was laid out by the court of
Massachusetts, and this route was eventually extended to
Albany, N. Y.

Other roads followed, generally running along some
old trail of the Amerinds, until the settlement of new
towns made it necessary to break away from the rudely
appointed routes. Thus slowly, year by year, the country
became crossed and cris-crossed with a network of high-
ways. But it was not, however, until after the close
of the French and Indian Wars that roads multiplied
very fast. Those seven years of conflict had served
to unlock the secrets of the wilderness to the frontier
soldiery that everywhere passed and repassed. The keen-
eyed scouts and wood-rangers not only saw with unflinch-
ing vision their dusky foemen, but they beheld with long-
ing gaze the advantages of the different sections of coun-
try lying to the west and north. Thus roads followed
rapidly the conclusion of the war.

EARLY POSTS AND POST-RIDERS 181

At first there were no bridges, and the streams had to
be forded or crossed by ferries. For several years the
roads running out of the metropolis of New England
crossed the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge,
where the ferry was established as early as 1631 by Edward,
Converse. Nine years later the profits of this ferry went
to Harvard College. A bridge was built over the Charles
on the road to Brighton in 1641.

The first road leading into New Hampshire of which
I have found any record was the old "King's Highway,"
connecting Boston with Portsmouth. This seems to have
been a popular route as early as 1766, and it led through
Greenland, Stratham, Exeter, Kingston, Plaistow, Haver-
hill, Bradford, Andover, Wilmington, Woburn, Medford to
Boston. It was sixty-six miles in length.

Another road a little later was established leading out
of Boston through Lynn (turning at Medford), Salem,
Ipswich, Newbury, Hampton, and joining the other at
Greenland. This route was extended through the province
of Maine, northward; and over the old Indian "Carrying-
Place," at the headwaters of the Kennebec and the Chau-
diere to Quebec. It was over this route that Arnold
passed with his troops upon that memorable winter march
to conquer Canada.

In 1770 another road into New Hampshire, known as
the "Road to Number Four," now Charlestown on the
Connecticut, was open to travel. This road crossed the
Charlestown Ferry and went through Cambridge, Lexing-
ton, Concord, Acton, Littleton, Groton, Shirley, Lunen-
burg, Fitchburg, Ashburnham, Winchendon, Mass., Swan-
sey, Keene, Walpole to Charlestown, N. H. The distance
was 119 miles.

Almost the first movement made by the Scotch-Irish
colony that settled Nutfield in 17 19 was to open roads for
the convenience of the settlers. A road had already been
opened to Haverhill, and what afterwards became known
as "The Great Road" was ordered built to Amoskeag

182 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

Falls. Nearly a hundred years before this, the Apostle
Eliot, in the summer of 1649, had caused to be cleared a
road or pathway up the west bank of the Merrimack River
to Amoskeag Falls, where Passaconaway had requested him
to visit his people. Illness prevented the good man from
undertaking the journey, but his noble intentions had been
instrumental in laying out the first road coming into our
state.

The breaking out of the Revolutionary War placed
another check upon roads, so that the most common way
of travel was upon horseback or on foot, the slow-moving
ox-team the power used to move heavy commodities. A
system of post-riders extended wherever new settlements
sprang up, and the scanty number of letters, papers and
parcels were carried through all the principal towns by
these hardy carriers. The main roads banding the country
were improved somewhat and came to be known as "Post
Roads." The first of this class of highways ran between
Boston and New York by way of Providence, Stonington,
New London and the sho e of Long Island Sound, a dis-
tance of two hundred and fifty-five miles. It was over
this route that Madame Knight made her memorable trip
in the summer of 1804.

Among the very earliest pioneers to assist in the
advancement of the postal service of this country was
Isaiah Thomas of Boston, who was the editor and publisher
of the Massachusetts Spy, before the Revolution. In the
fall of 1774 he was instrumental in establishing a line of
post-riders from Boston to Baltimore, his associates in the
undertaking being Thaddeus Burr of Fairfield, Conn., John
Holt of New York, and William Goddard of Baltimore.

The following year, upon moving his paper to Worces-
ter, he made increased effort to add to the postal facilities.
Every Wednesday, the day upon which his paper came
from the press, a post-rider started for Cambridge and
Salem, returning Saturday with the Gazette published at
the former place by Edes & Gill.

EARLY POSTS AND POST-RIDERS 183

The system of rural free delivery, of which the post-
riders stand as shining examples, became so popular that
the public was loath to give it up. Post-riders continued
on their routes, many of them, several years after the com-
ing of the iron horse, which was to completely revolutionize
the mode of travel. They were especially valuable to the
publishers of papers, and their reputations were won by
the swiftness and certainty with which they delivered their
messages. Not infrequently did they incur great hard-
ships but actual dangers, as witness the following contem-
porary account taken from the Boston Courier of Jan-
uary 28, 1833.

Expresses are carried sometimes in light vehicles, but generally on
horseback. The speed is commonly too great for the motion of wheels,
and with a horse unincumbered by a vehicle, obstacles from bad roads or
any other source can be more readily overcome and avoided. The riders
are dressed in a light jacket, pantaloons, or breeches and boots, and a
snug cap. In the rapid expresses which have been run within the last
two years from Washington with the president's message, horses and
riders are stationed at intervals of five miles throughout the whole line.
The shortest calculations have been for twenty-two miles per hour. Each
horse, therefore, has to perform his route within fifteen minutes. As each
horse comes up, the next rider seizes the package, applies his spurs, and
goes off at the top of his animal's powers. Seldom have all the bridges,
mud-holes and other obstacles of all sorts, between Washington and New
York, been passed without at least one or two doleful tumbles. In one
instance, a horse, in jumping from Trenton bridge, slipped and fell, burst
open his breast, and died on the spot. The riders, strained to the highest
pitch of excitement and energy, generally contrive to save their necks, but
they encouuter hazards which to gratify curiosity of thousands can hardly
repay. Yet there are always a plenty of men and boys with whom the
pleasure of excitement more than outweigh the danger. If a horse is dis-
abled, the rider has to procure another as he can, and sometimes takes
the humble, and, under the circumstance, almost ridiculous alternates, of
trudging two or three miles on foot.

It is easy to see that these post-riders were a hardy
class of men, inured to battling with the elements in all
sorts of weather and condition. They usually bestrode
horses worthy of their mettle. Their routes could be
traced by the notices in the local papers. The newspapers

184 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

and packages were carried in large saddle-bags, and the
letters in a pouch slung over the shoulder of the rider.
Merchants not infrequently employed them to carry arti-
cles, and it was not uncommon for them to take horses
along for delivery at certain places. A contemporary
writer in describing one of them says:

"Every one knew the time for the arrival of the post-
rider, and a crowd collected to greet him. At every four-
corners or cross-roads there was a post with a covered box
upon it, in which to put the papers, and the post-rider
would ride up to it at a full gallop, open the box, drop in the
paper and go on without stopping or even slacking his
speed."

Always the bearer of the latest news and gossip in
those days when papers were not common, the blare of the
post-rider's trumpet announcing his coming was the signal
for eager, anxious watchers to await his approach. Upon
special occasions, such as an election or following the
occurrence of some important event, these heralds were
met by crowds at post-offices and public places. About
1800 these couriers seemed the most numerous, and after
that time the stage-coach and then railroad supplanted
them, so they began to diminish, until in the forties they
disappeared altogether.

One of the last to follow his calling was William Clark,
of New London, N. H., commonly known as "Bill Clark."
. He carried the mail for a long period between the towns of
New London through Bradford to Washington. It is said
he never missed a trip, and whatever the weather or condi-
dition of the road the trumpet of "Old Bill" was certain to
awake the inhabitants of Bradford at early morning, and he
was sure to be found at the village hostelry, where he
stopped long enough to take his breakfast.

i • ?'

■

$$$ Encle's Coon ^lun Coat

By Stranger

Illustration by the Author
O my prophetic soul! my uncle! — Hamlet.

Note. — It is now twenty years and more since my uncle told the
story of his coon skin coat. To-night, as I copy out from memory the
narration of his singular adventure, I call to mind his foresight in sending
me, soon after returning home, the following sworn declaration. My uncle
doubtless realized that by some his statements might be discredited if the
story ever found its way into print.

Affidavit of Joh^ Oakleaf. Personally appeared before me the
aforesaid John Oakleaf, yoeman and pedler, who being duly sworn
deposed and said that the account of his adventure at the home of Dea-
con Hubbardston was substantially correct as his memory served him.
(Signed) SELMEN NURUM, J. P.

Late of firm, Nurum & Greenlemons,

New Haven.

EAR the close of a rainy November afternoon, my
uncle came into my room in the City of Witches.
Ordinarily, the appearance of my uncle, a plain,
straight-going man, would not excite unusual interest; but
this time he came on Friday, the anniversary of the break-
ing of the neck of the unhappy Stephen Merrill Clark. He
had come by the way of Gallows hill, and had sold his last
pair of green spectacles at the very house wherein were
tried some of the victims of the delusion known as Salem
witchcraft. And more than all, he wore his coon skin
coat. I always shuddered when I saw that coat. Some-
thing of its strange history was known to me. This
dreary, howling, November afternoon, as he slowly took it
off and hung it near the fire, the very hair seemed to rise
up, the tails to lash about, and legs to extend from out of
the grizzly fur as if thawed into animation by the warmth.
Naturally enough, the conversation turned into psychologi-

185

186 my uncle's coon skin coat

cal channels, and from thence into the broader sea of
superstitions in general.

"It was on such an afternoon as this," said my uncle,
"that people were startled by seeing thrown in awful mirage
upon the eastern sky the inverted image of the ill-starred
brigantine 'Noah's Dove,' that long before sailed away from
Derby wharf, and was never hailed."

A peculiar, pendulum-like swaying of the coat now
drew our attention. At that moment, also, there came a
rapping at the door so sharp and sudden that my uncle
dropped his snuff box bottom side up on the floor. Before
he had time to recover his fragrant macaboy, my old friend,
Doctor Bicuspid, fresh from the dissecting room of a New
York medical school, came in with a large carpet bag in
his hand.

"Fearful night," said the Doctor, shaking the rain off
his hat and my uncle by the hand.

"I was about to say," said Oakleaf, after he had some-
what recovered from an almost dislocated metacarpus,
"that I have not known so dismal and terrific a night to be
abroad in since that very night twenty-seven years age — "

"Zounds! John Oakleaf, what was that?" shouted the
doctor.

At this startling interruption, my uncle broke off the
thread of his story, and we turned our eyes in the direc-
tion of the coat, hanging on a wooden peg by the hearth,
which the Doctor stoutly declared had vibrated several
times like the pendulum of a clock. After quiet had been
restored, and the angles of the room had become dulled by
tobacco smoke, my uncle began again the story of his coon
skin coat and we, the Doctor and myself, became as open-
mouthed listeners as ever stared in wonder at old John
Willet of the famous Maypole Inn.

"Twenty-seven years ago I started on foot from
Haverhill, N. H., then a small post-village on the stage
line from Plymouth to Littleton, with my trunk, that one
sitting there (he pointed to a small black box in the corner

MY UNCLE'S COON SKIN COAT 187

of the room), filled with articles of jewelry and a cheap
grade of lead pencils, commodities at that time unknown
in country groceries that seldom rose above the dignity of
lamp oil and lard."

Here my uncle mused, seeming to wander reflectively
along paths whose perspective led back to the time when
he, a traveler, fared along the dusty road, stopping, per-
chance, at a road-side store to clear his throat with a glass
of cider at the tap, and then resume his journey to far
away among the hills. Spirals of smoke, circling about
him, seemed to weave him, as it were, into the fabric
memory was tracing, and revivifying faded hues in the
pattern.

"You see," said my uncle, at length resuming his
story, "I felt it incumbent on me to reach Holderness on
as early a day as possible, for I consider good faith an
important part of a pedler's outfit. The country folks on
the Squam Lake road looked forward to my semi-annual
visit to the neighborhood; and being already two days late,
I made all haste in reaching that quiet settlement. It was
late in November; a cold, cheerless and gusty day was
drawing to a close when I came in sight of the hamlet; at
intervals a light in a window threw a faint gleam upon the
shadowy road, while now and then the tinkling of a cow
bell told of some herd wandering late in pasture. I con-
fess to a nameless feeling of apprehension, having heard
away back on the road, rumors of queer and mysterious
doings thereabouts. It was six o'clock, as near as I can
remember, when I crossed the log bridge that spanned an
inlet of the lake; the wind blew in fitful gusts, and Squam
rolled its dark and frothy waves fretfully upon the shore.
About half a mile now lay between me and the house
where I intended to stop a few days. A feeling of timidity
overtook me again when I passed the spot where, only the
spring before, a pedler's horse was found tied to an alder
bush, and his rider was never after heard of; but rumors of
a ghost with a fractured skull — "

188 my uncle's coon skin coat

"Should have been trepanned," said the Doctor, now
wide awake,

"As I said, uncanny rumors were rife among the
superstitious. After winding through the meadow the road
rises to a ledgy plateau where the wind, increasing as the
night advanced, swept with unchecked fury. That night
it roared, as if a thousand demons had been let loose; dark-
ness came on early, and the forest that nearly surrounded
my path shut out the last gleam of the departing day;
while between me and the water the blackness fell like a
thick curtain. Ever and anon a trumpet blast reached my
ears, but from where or what direction I am unable to tell,
but the utter loneliness of that sound, as others who heard
it afterwards testified, was indeed awful.

"Half an hour later I sat my box down on the doorstep of
Deacon Simon Hubbardston's house and rapped on the door.
The Deacon came along the hall with a tallow-dip in his
hand, which the wind instantly blew out when he opened
the door to let me in. Following him into the kitchen, I
found that he was alone; a yellow barrel-churn stood near
the fireplace, and the Deacon's iron-bowed spectacles lay
on an open copy of an old book on Demonology, bearing
date of 163 1, and the imprint of a London bookseller."

My uncle in his younger years had been a schoolmas-
ter, and the love of learned research was still strong upon
him; but he had too much sense to blunder into the dark-
ness of a doubtful science by the light of a tallow candle,
and he was amazed to find the Deacon dabbling in empiric
lore and following an ignis fatuus into a swamp where only
tangled perplexities prevail.

"After the Deacon had returned from the cellar with a
pitcher of cider," continued my uncle, ''he spoke of the
singular behaviour of the weather and the remarkable con-
dition of the atmosphere that then prevailed. 'I am cer-
tain,' he said, 'at such times, of the dual existence of some
persons;— did you hear that queer sound, just then, Oak-
leaf? — and that the invisible presence of some one known

MY UNCLE'S COON SKIN COAT 189

to be miles away, forces itself upon my mind with oppres-
sive weight. Certain persons are given power by the
Prince of Darkness to assume forms other than their own;
sometimes taking the shape of beast or bird for the pur-
pose of annoyance, and it may be mischief. Such uncanny
visitations have, from time out of mind, frightened the
ignorant and puzzled the learned; peasant and philosopher
are equally bewildered. Strange, Oakleaf, strange.'

"If you venture, Deacon, into the domains of imagina-
tion; where may you not wander? None of us walk with
sure steps on the brink of the pit of hallucination."

" 'Some,' continued the Deacon, apparently not hear-
ing what I said, 'declare that the Bilson woman, who lives
in a cottage on the meadow, on such nights as this, when
the moon is on the last quarter, takes the shape of a rac-
coon and prowls around the houses of honest people;
during the last storm she took the form of a loon, flew over
in the shape of a harrow, and finally roosted on my corn
shed. Gabriel Tinhorn saw a raccoon lurking around one
night, and next morning his three-year-old bull, was found
up on the highest beam of the barn; and a brindled cat sur-
named the "Lamentations of Jeremiah," left in his keeping
by a summer boarder, had not been seen at all since that
night. Just before candle-lighting tonight I saw an enor-
mous raccoon creeping under the gooseberry bushes by
that window. And now, John Oakleaf, I believe that the
cream in this churn is bewitched, for I have been churning
three hours and no signs of butter have appeared.'

"Deacon Hubbardston, said I, do you think it becomes
a man of your intelligence and standing in the community
to talk of such delusions?"

" 'Great Hornspoon! John Oakleaf,' suddenly ex-
claimed the Deacon, 'did you hear that sound?'

"I did distinctly hear the chattering of teeth."

" 'Hush!' The Deacon looked frightened.

"What do you think it is, Deacon?"

"'The old woman Bilson in the shape of a raccoon.'

190 my uncle's coon skin coat

"Where?"

" 'Here in the churn?

"He pushed the churn away, reached up to the little
cupboard over the fireplace, took out an old newspaper
containing a lengthy review of 'Grimes on Magic Elo-
quence,' handed the paper to me, then picking up the blue-
striped pitcher went down cellar leaving me to wonder what
was coming next. I sat transfixed by I know not what
spell, with my eyes fastened upon a strangely luminous
beam of light that emanated from a chink in the door
where the Deacon had disappeared. When he returned he
set the pitcher down on the table and looked at the churn
in an abstracted manner.

" 'Oakleaf,' said the Deacon suddenly, 'you used to
sing; get that book of Watts' hymns and lead off.' He
found a tuning-fork in a light-stand drawer, with trembling
band hit it on a leg of his chair, then holding it to his ear
struck up — Hallelujah metre:

"On that dark and doleful night
When powers of earth and hell unite."

"The exorcising tones arose and joined in dismal chorus
with the sounds of the night without.

" 'Holland's Purchase!' exclaimed the Deacon, 'There
it is again.'

"He got up, went to the fireplace, drew forward a heap
of glowing coals, lifted up the churn, and poured the con-
tents upon the red-hot embers. A moment it seethed and
boiled, and then gathering itself into a mass the infernal
compound exploded. Then from out of the brands and
ashes sprang a monstrous raccoon which leaped upon the
table, stood still a moment, then crashed its way through
the window out into the darkness. A shriek, followed by
flying steps, was heard. I took the old queen's arm that
hung in the chimney-corner and hurried out as soon as pos-
sible, but no further injury was needed; the animal was
still. I removed him to the shed and secured the fur; and

MY UNCLE'S COON SKIN COAT 191

that is the identical skin in the back of that coat against
ichich the Doctar is leaning his head.

"When I came down to breakfast the next morning,
the young Bilson girl was waiting in the open door for the
Deacon to find his hat; her manner was excited and
anxious; we went with her to the little cottage on the
meadow, where she said that her mother, during the storm
the night before, had rushed in all ablaze. Whether the
foot-prints leading from the cottage to the Deacon's broken
window were hers I am, of course, unable to say; but the
difference in the time of her appearance at her home and
the moment when the Deacon poured the cream upon
the blazing coals varied but ten minutes.

"Long afterward I again visited the meadow. It was
afternoon in the spring-time of the year. The shadow of
a great elm fell across the weed-grown road, and stretching
over the ruined cottage, hastened on as the sun declined,
to join kindred twilight in the deep woods that fringe the
shore of the lake. A strange vine bearing flame-red
flowers trailed a leafy fretwork among the rafters. With
unwelcome insistence memory forced upon me thoughts of
the unhappy victim of a pitiless delusion that demanded
her as a sacrifice. Was it because she was defenceless that
they dared darken her way with unjust suspicion?

"O woman, glorified by the star that guided the Wise
Men in old Judea, why should one of the least among you
have not found protection! Had but one Knight like
Bayard been granted, men who were only their mothers'
shame, would have been silent. In the calm and peace of
the evening I walked away never to return."

"Are you a preacher, too, Oakleaf?" said the Doctor.

My uncle made no reply. His story was done. When
he opened the door to go away, we heard the midnight bells.

******

As I said in the first place, it was years ago that my
uncle told the story of his coon skin coat, and that I wrote
it out from memory.

192 THE SILVER LINING

When I read the manuscript to the schoolmaster, in
camp last summer, he said if it wasn't for the affidavit, he
wouldn't believe the story. Then he took his fishing rod
and walked away down the road.

The murmur of Eastman brook reached the school-
master's ears as he stopped a moment to gather an old-
fashioned single red rose that grew by the doorstep of the
haunted schoolhouse, where Macdonald waited in the
shadow of the butternut trees — Macdonald whose father
played the Pibroch far in the north of Scotland where the
waves of Moray Firth wash the shores of Chromarty.

Windowless and gray the old schoolhouse stands at
the foot of the hill, while near by a weed-grown road strag-
gles among gray birches on to where a dismal pool reflects
the shadow of a ruined mill.

This is a trout country; and presently, below on the
brook, I heard the Highlander singing;

"By yon bonnie banks and yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
O we twa hae passed sae mony blithsome days
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond."

<3H)e ^tlber Htntng

By Nelson Glazier Morton

Every cloud has a silver lining,

Every night brings the dawning day.
Life is good, let there come what may;

Waste no moments in sad repining;

Every cloud has a silver lining,

Every night brings the dawning day.

.--

Ex-Gov. E. A. STRAW
President 1870-1880

Ex-Gov. J. A. WESTON
President 1S80-1S95

-^ «C

.....

FRANK W. SARGEANT
President

&£2* ^

Vi. ,.

•■■-. r,

JOHN C. FRENCH
President 1895-1900

UBERTO C. CROSBY
President 1900-1905

$eto ifampsfrire irtte insurance
Company

By Gray Fairlee

'HE formation of the New Hampshire Fire Insur-
ance Company was due to the persistent and well-
directed efforts of a single individual, the late
John C. French, and it remains a monument to the zeal
and genius of its founder.

Forty years ago there was no stock fire insurance com-
pany in the state of New Hampshire. Several efforts in
this direction had been made, but all had failed of success.
It speaks volumes for the ability of its founder that he was
able at the first to interest and impress, and later to attach to
the official board and directorateof theneworganization, men
of financial strength and of a wide influence and reputation
for conservative methods and integrity of purpose. Himself
at that time possessed of but a limited knowledge of the fire
insurance business, he made it a study to the extent that he
came to rank in the front column of the practical fire
underwriters of the country. Mr. French was one of the
most unassuming of men and often took occasion to ascribe
the wonderful success of the company to the advice and
assistance of others. It has been said that the test of
greatness in the business world lies in the ability to select
and retain capable associates and helpers and Mr. French
showed unerring judgment in that respect. But the new
company was launched with his strong hand at the helm
and followed a course which he had planned, through the
shoals and past the reefs and treacherous quicksands of the
earlier years, to the broad waters of success and as nearly
as possible, under changing conditions and with business
methods adapted and broadened to meet the requirements

193

194 NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY

of a vastly larger organization and a constantly increasing
field of effort and influence, it still follows along the lines
laid down by its founder.

Under the provisions of a bill entitled: "An Act to
Establish the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company,"
drawn by John C. French with the advice and assistance
of Samuel N. Bell and passed by the legislature of 1869, a
charter was secured and the company was organized in
January of the following year. In April of 1870 an office
was equipped and the company was at last in a position to
do business. The first policy bore the date of April 6 and
was written by John C French on the residence of ex-Gov.
James A. Weston, and it is an interesting fact that the
property is still insured by the New Hampshire, as it has
been continuously during forty years.

It seems strange to us to-day, considering the charac-
ter and high standing in the community, of the half dozen
men who stood as sponsors to the new company, that
the first issue of stock was not eagerly acquired, but those
were days of excessive caution in investment. Fire insur-
ance in New Hampshire at that period was considered a
very hazardous enterprise and the history of previous
attempts in that line was not such as to breed overmuch
confidence. At the end of the year 1870, the sum of
#40,123 of net premiums had been written, in the year
1909 the total net premiums for the twelve months was
more than $2,150,000.

The company organization occurred at a period pecu-
liarly favorable for a successful business. The great confla-
gration at Boston and Chicago caused a demand for insur-
ance capital and protection such as had never before been
known in the history of fire underwriting. The growth of
the young company was rapid, being only restrained by the
conservative prudence of its officers and directors and the
determination to assume only such obligations as could be
safely carried without danger of disaster. Business was
extended slowly and cautiously, state by state, the utmost

. ■

NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY 195

care being exercised in the selection of field managers
and agents.

The plan outlined at the commencement and ever since
adhered to, was that all premiums should be retained to
meet losses, the dividends to stock-holders to be paid from
the interest on investments. During the years that fol-
lowed, the surplus or reserve fund thus founded has steadily
grown, each year having added its quota, until today over
one and a half millions of dollars is thus held in trust to
serve as a protection to policy-holders against such contin-
gencies as might be caused by business and financial crises
or great conflagrations.

And thus year by year the New Hampshire Fire grew
in strength and extended its field of usefulness, gaining
everywhere a reputation for reliability and square-dealing.

When the great Baltimore fire came in 1904, to be fol-
lowed two years later by the unparalleled disaster at San
Francisco, the company was so firmly entrenched that it
was little affected by the large losses incurred. In those
days that tried men's souls, the New Hampshire Fire
Insurance Company earned its spurs and proved its worth.
Although hampered and delayed by the loss of all its rec-
ords in the vault of its General Agency in San Francisco,
it was one of the first companies to begin paying its losses
and one of the very first to complete such payment, a
result attained without ill feeling and to the complete satis-
faction of all concerned. That this was all accomplished
without any impairment of its assets and that the state-
ment of the following January showed the company to be
financially stronger than ever before was a matter of pride
and gratification to the officers and stock-holders as well as
a source of wonderment to policy-holders and the agency
world, coming at a time when the air was filled with rumors
of the suspension or re-insurance of long established com-
panies, while others were forced to adopt heroic measures
to replenish their depleted treasuries.

To meet the requirements of a business which has

196 NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY

shown from the first a constant, healthy growth, it has nine
times been considered desirable to increase the amount of
capital stock and each new issue has been practically taken
up by the old stock-holders. A further increase of $100,000
has been recently voted, which will make the cash capital
$1,200,000, the original charter of the company having
been revised by a recent legislative act to admit of the
ultimate extension of the cash capital to a round two mil-
lions of dollars.

The organization owes much to the officers who have
managed its finances, to those men who first made it a pos-
sibility and then throughout its early career as well as dur-
ing the later years have given to its welfare their time and
best efforts. The names and memory of ex-Gov. E. A.
Straw, ex-Gov. James A. Weston, Hon. S. N. Bell, Hon.
George Byron Chandler and ex-Gov. Moody Currier will
ever be honored for services invaluable to the New Hamp-
shire, each having been officially connected with the corpo-
ration at the time of its inception. A detailed personal
history of the men who have guided the destinies of the
company would not be of special interest to a majority of
our readers, but the result of their work and the organiz-
ation which they helped to build has assumed a nation-
wide importance as an exponent of the best and most use-
ful principles of fire underwriting.

€bitor'£ Wnbotu

heroic Sntfoents

Chiseled out of a rock overlooking the beautiful Lake
Lucerne, in the heart of the Fatherland of Freedom, the
very embodiment of simplicity and nobility worthy of the
genius of its designer, the immortal Thorwald, is a monu-
ment commemorating the daring sacrifice of The Swiss
Guard.

The memorial represents a lion, his body pierced by a
shaft, while he rests upon the rock-bed his paw lying across
a shield emblazoned with the lilies of France. Over the
recumbent guardsman is another shield engraved with the
arms of Switzerland.

This monument was made to commemorate one of the
most heroic scenes in the checkered history of France,
and commemorates the heroic sacrifice of the Swiss Guard,
at the critical moment when the tragic drama of the
French Revolution was at its crucial point and the trem-
bling emperor, not daring to place himself at the head of
his brave legion, hesitated while they were butchered
almost to a man in the precincts of the Tulieries Palace,
while his sun sank behind a blood-red sunset.

^fje #2arcf) of Hibertp

The sun never sets on the American flag! The tri-
umphant proclamation of the British Empire that night
never mantles her domain is now the exultation of the
American people. The Lion has its compeer!

197

198 editor's window

It is but two generations ago that the American
Nation, like a black knight, entered the tournament of the
Nations unarmored and unskilled in the use of the unweildy
commercial lance.

Well might the Old World look upon it as brazen
effrontery. Impoverished by the War for Independence
and facing a financial crisis more serious than any of its
experiences on the battlefield, the knight of the west
looked to the east for the loan of sufficient funds to secure
the bare sustenance of life — but without sympathy.

The aged monarchies proclaimed it a hazardous risk
and forcasted short life to the bold knight, pronouncing
self-government as the vision of irresponsible theorists.

The tournament of the Nations has been swift. From
thirteen scattered states in the wilderness the American
Republic has swept from ocean to ocean. It has pushed
the light of liberty to the far ice-bounds of Alaska. With
a leap it has carried the dawn of a new day into the
Hawaiian Islands and into the Philippines; it has extended
its arm to struggling Cuba and Puerto Rico as the cham-
pion of freedom, until to-day the American knight holds
the commercial supremacy of the world, and with a wealth
estimated at one-tenth of a trillion dollars, and increasing
at the rate of twelve millions a day, it is the richest Nation
on earth — in men and gold. — Mrs. Henry Champion in
Journal of American History.

The Spanish Main is a familiar phrase on our lips, and
practically every one who uses it believes that he is refer-
ring to an old name for a portion of the ocean. As a mat-
ter of fact, however, Main is merely a contraction for
Mainland. The term was applied to that part of the north
coast of South America which was washed by the Carib-
bean Sea. The name is simply a survival from the days
when Spain was the mistress not only of the West Indies
but also of the mainland.

editor's window 199

A most puzzling geographic mystery has come down
from ancient times. This is the old question as to the
identity of Ultimate Thule. It was about 400 B. C. that
Pytheas, a citizen of Massilia, sailed on his famous voyage.
He discovered Albion, and then continued farther north
till he reached a spot which he named Ultimate Thule.
What this country was has never been determined. It
may have been Shetland, or Norway, or Iceland.

Another ancient puzzle is that of Atlantis. It is com-
monly believed nowadays that this vanished continent did
once actually lie beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and there
are theories unending concerning it. Some regard the
Canary Islands as fragmentary remains of it; others think
that the supposedly lost land was really America. But, in
considering these speculations, it is well to bear in mind
the fact that the first mention of the country was made by
Plato, and many scholars are sure that the philosopher
merely indulged in an imaginative fight. The solitary evi-
dence that Atlantis ever existed is his reference to it.

Three traits of character were prominent in the lives
of the early pioneers of Londonderry: Sobriety, industry
and tenacity of purpose. One of their ministers naively
remarked that "It behooveth a Scotchman to be right, for
if he starteth wrong he must forever be wrong." It was
told of one of them that "I'm open to conviction, but I'd
like to see the man who can convince me." If at times
stubborn to a division of action upon even church matters,
they were united in their efforts to establish schools, and
in this respect were ahead of the English colonists. They
were exceedingly industrious and guarded their little manu-
factories with zealous interest. The wives and daughters

200 editor's window

of these thrifty people were true home-makers, where the
hum of the linen wheel was the music of busy workers
and the steady stroke of the loom the song of active
life.

Let me preach you a two minutes' sermon upon the
value of optimism.

The cry of despair was never the war-cry of victory.
The Pessimist lays down his sword at the beginning of the
battle. The tone of the voice is the measure of purpose,
and there was never a victory won without the ring of
triumph ere the rubicon has been passed.

As it is in armed strife so in civil walks of life optimism
paints the pathway with flowery possibility, and leads the
feet up stepping-stones of hope and faith to the templed
height of success. The light may be but the illusion of a
dreamer and the ladder he climbs but the frail flashes of
lacework of invisible vines thrown across his pathway by
phantom hands. Yet, notice it when you will, he who
climbs the rugged path of great iortune does so with a
countenance illuminated with the light of the stars and
who throughly believes in himself. He may be visionary,
he may seem impracticable, but he leaves the misanthrope
groping in the dark while he climbs into the sunlight of
glory.

THE PICTURESQUE LAND

illustrations From Oakes" White Mountain Scenery

o<c»o<oo

Oakes' "White Mountain Scenery" was not only the earliest, but the most
ambitious among the illustrated works upon the White Hillls. While some of the
drawings are not of a very high class of art. yet they created considerable atten'
tion at the time of their appearance, and are usually accurate in their detail as
well as in theit general conception.

.£'

' "'i 4

. 4 -

■'I-

- 3 -•

■ <v*-..

■T-^-.-

^;-*\

t •'

v • *

•5 *

7' .

",v.

1 £

C£

U-

I >

'1 "J

^'1

z
<

it 1

T§" 'i

a
in

J%n.-~..i-*w „--?

Mountains of the Snowy Forehead

OUNTAINS are the monuments of the Crea-
tor's work of world-building. Not alone for
the grandeur of their majestic presence are
they noted, but as sources of busy rivers that
control the progress of industry, the barriers between em-
pires of eminent domain, the refuge of the seekers after
political freedom, mountains are ever objects of respect, if
not veneration, to those who dwell under the shadow of
their stately dominion. The far-reaching prairie may forever
beckon with its invisible fingers the wayfarer into the heart
of its realm, but it offers no recompense for his endeavors;
no haven of safety at set of sun. The mountain not only
protects him from the biting blasts of the northland, but it
unfolds, from its lofty summit, the very scroll of nature's
handiwork; spreads at the feet of him who climbs the map
of the universe, and points the way to his own hearthside.
The breath of the plain is the fitful wooing of the syren of
desolation. The spirit of the mountain is always the song
of hope and freedom, love for the strong, protection for the
weak.

The Appalachian chain of highlands following the At-
lantic coast finds its loftiest elevation and its grandest per-
fection in the White Hills of New Hampshire. This
noble range was known to the Amerind by the poetical des-
ignation of Waumbek Methna, "The Mountains of the
Snowy Forehead." Properly speaking, this series or group
of mountains is about fifteen miles in length, with Mount
Washington the central and objective figure. In breadth it
is but a few miles, finding its greatest width at the base of
this monarch.

From the vantage ground taken by our artist an ex-
tended view of the lofty range is obtained, probably the
best in all the region about. While over sixty years have

203

THE PICTURESQUE LAND 205

left their imprint on the face of nature since he made his
drawing, the scene has changed very little. It is true great
inroads have been made upon the forests at their bases,
sundry storms have cut here and there huge gashes down
the sides of these giants, while man has dared to scale the
very highest with his car and bound it with iron bands; still
the general effect is the same as then. The dome-like sum-
mit of Mount Pleasant on the extreme left, the flat brow of
the namesake of Franklin, and the double crests of Monroe
remain undefiled. A greater sufferer from vandal hands
than either of these is the monarch of the range, Mount
Washington, its high, broad pyramid affording the crown
for all. Its shoulders of loose grey rock thrust above the
spiky collar of its coat of green, patched with brown where
barren ledges pierce the threadbare garment of stunted
spruces, from all points of the compass, the seashore on
the south to Mount Kathdin in Maine, hence northward to
the Laurentian wall of the St. Lawrence valley, thence
making the circle to the Adirondack hosts, then southerly
and easterly past Uncanoonucs' twin crests and old Paw-
tuckaway to the Isles of Shoals, it is always the silent, lofty
sentinel that keeps its ceaseless watch as the army of
years passes by.

Without casting any reproach on the illustrious names
that this range of mountains bears, no greater injustice was
done the heritage of history than in robbing it of the
patronymics given by the dusky race that read their very
moods in the passing clouds, saw in their shifting shades
the passing of the anger of an offended god, or perchance
discovered a token of mercy and of hope in the lifting
countenance.

To the Amerind the lofty summits were looked upon
as hallowed retreats, where it was believed only the chosen
of the Great Spirit could ascend. Their name for the
highest was Agiochook, which meant "The Home of the
Great Spirit."

Spaulding, one of its most faithful historians, says elo-

v . .- . y-«<n- ( ireys-%,-

■

i V .

•r 3* §

•

* M

-■'

■

*^-ti

;

■

. f . .

» \ • \

■

" "*f :

.' f

■

. ;;

/ z. c -v-

" . '■

,"-' • «~

- ■

' <

K ? "' ;

•

. ^. —

' - 1 >■*"

•

r £

■

.... -,__. .:^,^

S X
- H

1 u-

2 O

" >-

>. LU

s <

e a

THE PICTURESQUE LAND 207

quently: "In olden times, from far and near have come the
brave and fair red children of the wilderness, to offer, in
wild, shadowv glens, their sacrifices of vengeance and love,
and where their songs rose, with the echoes of the thunder-
ing waterfalls, to mingle with the roaring wind of the tem-
pest cloud, upon the snow-crowned rock, there they rever-
ently believed the Great Spirit listened with satisfaction to
their tributes of esteem. When the first white man came
here to climb to the top of this bald mountain, an old Indian,
with his tomahawk of stone, flint-pointed arrow, and tanned
war-dress, from the skins of moose and bear, standing
proudly erect, shook his head, and said, 'The Great Spirit
dwells there; he covers steps above the green leaves with
the darkness of the fire tempest. No foot-marks are seen
returning from his home in the clouds.' "

Gone is the red man's nomenclature, and with it fled
the romance of the mountain and the forest, more's the pity,
until we can only say with Hiawatha:

Lo! all things fade and perish!
From the memory of the old men
Fade away the great traditions,
The achievements of the warriors,
The adventures of the hunters.

The present naming of the mountains was done by an
exploring party setting out from Lancaster in the autumn
of 1820. Better far had they stayed at home, and left us
instead of the Presidential Range the red man's Kan Ren
Woraity, which spoke of the resemblance to the gull in the
serrated crest lifted against the sky.

If the poet is singularly silent in giving to us the songs
and legends of the hills, the artist and historian has, each in
his own way, sought in the White Hills an inspiration for
his work, until it would truly seem that the subject had
long since been exhausted. As a matter of fact, it never
can be. Every day in their presence discovers some new
charm, affords a fresh beauty, awakens an unexpected in-
terest, so until the end of life, though painters and prophets

208 THE^PICTURESQUE LAND

may come and go, even readers join the silent procession
winding down the avenue of eternity, the theme will still
throw the spell of its splendors over the beholder.

00>flO<00

The White Mountain Notch

The last word belongs wholly to New England, and is
not to be found elsewhere. It seems peculiarly applicable to
him who slowly ascends the valley gradually growing nar-
rower as he advances after leaving Upper Bartlett, until it
requires a strong will and determination to keep on where
the evidence increases foot by foot that there must be an
end to the journey soon. The murmuring of Nancy's
Brook, as if it were crooning over and over its pathetic story,
still rings in our ears, and fits us for the visible impression
of mountain unwillingness to let us reach the regions above.
Where the awful jaws of the granite monster seem about
to close upon us we come in sight of the place where a
few years ago stood the lonely hostelry, the Willey House.

The Gateway of the Mountains

The entrance is guarded on either side by high senti-
nels of granite, the perpendicular wall rising to a height
of fifty feet. About a quarter of a mile from this point is
the dividing ridge where the Saco runs eastward with its
tribute to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Amonoosuc, flowing
westward, carries it offering to the Connecticut River.

Entering the narrow gateway, the beholder gazes with
new wonder and amazement upon the wild and shift-
ing scenery that baffles adequate description. Hugh rock-
splinters, hung with seemingly slight hold upon immense
sloping ledges, threaten to topple upon the intruder as he
advances. Cascades of picturesque beauty drop from high
cliffs like slender white ribbons rolling from the great spool
of rock. High over all frowns down upon the circum-
scribed scene the lofty brows of the overhanging mountains.

£1 1 J^

^4 a
35 •'

.?;. ;

■ f ■-. ■

l[:

ijsA ^-^iia^-^rll^^^^:- !*._— , M .J

litest ^opfeinton==Past, Present
anb irtitttre

By Arthur G. Symonds

.OUR years ago West Hopkinton was a quiet
hamlet with no life to stir its rural population ex-
cept the buzz of a saw-mill which was busy but a
few months in a year. Years ago a grist-mill and later a kit-
factory furnished employment for a few men. To-day how
changed! Few who have not visited this place in the last
few years would recognize the little village that has sprung
up almost in a night as the same town of old, and certainly
the new industry that has created new life and activity
would excite their wonder as well as their admiration.

Early in 1906 the Davis Paper Co., which formerly
operated a paper mill at Davisville, N. H., purchased the
water rights of Frank H. Carr, who had operated a saw-
mill here for years and who reserved the privilege of using
the power necessary to run his mill whenever the water ran
over the dam. The old dam was torn away and a new and
higher one constructed of logs, plank, rock and concrete.

Just below Carr's land, bordering on the river, they
purchased the interval farm which has been in the name of
the Rowell family for several generations. Here, side by
side, two large mills were erected, one a leather-board mill,
180x60 feet; the other a paper-board mill, 200x30 feet, con-
structed of concrete, except the upper story of the larger
mill, which is of wood.

A canal was dug, leading the water some three hun-
dred feet to their land below where a gate was erected.
Then the water is conducted through two large penstocks
150 feet to the wheel pit in front of the leather-board mill,

211 ~0K

- .1.-1 y^$~:i^

1 1 I

1 '■ ■ '■ % :

p|; J. .

I :

. . ■ ■■* *- p -. .

-"*■ ! " i -'* *'

$! ^ • J, J

_ 1

5 > i -, ■ . ita&3

. ' *^

. i

£_,

a:
<

K 8

*:^

-% >.'-•■■■■' 'r^*
■

1 -* ^ •

*»

"-5

* ! ' ,. '

iT I,:/*

7;* : >- i fee

•■ ■■" v > : ; '• . — — '- '■— J-

^
^

* 1

G
6

■ ~'1 ; c**« : ".l." v—

*'-i

: ??■<? ; ii^jfc.

t.t

--•:

■ 3 *>'■■ 1

^ ;> ?^

v <■ c : .:,- {- >■■:< -J

; . • iLa

t, i^'^J

WEST HOPKINTON 213

which is run entirely by water power, while the paper mill
receives its supply of water through a smaller pipe from
the same source.

The plant is equipped with two large boilers, a 65-h. p.
Westinghouse Standard double-cylinder engine, an electric
dynamo, a water reservoir with eight feet head, a rotary fire
pump with a capacity of 1,000 gallons per minute, an auto-
matic fire sprinkler and alarm, and all the machinery neces-
sary for making leather-board and box-board.

On the evening of December 20, 1907, the Davis Paper
Co. invited the public to attend a house warming and social
dance. This was held in the upper story of the large mill
before any machinery had been set up there and was
largely attended. Special trains and scores of teams brought
people from several of the surrounding towns. Over six
hundred were present to enjoy the festivities. No such
event of so great magnitude ever before occurred in this
part of the country and it will ever be remembered by young
and old alike as a gala day in the history of the town.

A number of houses have been built for the employees
and a large store house erected adjoining the Boston and
Maine railroad, just across the river from the plant.

A vast amount of labor and capital was employed to
carry on this work and men from many climes and nearly
every calling participated in bringing this enterprise to its
completion.

Henry C. and Horace J. Davis of Contoocook, who
were formerly associated in making straw board and leather
card board at Davisville, are at the head of this concern.
Both have served in the New Hampshire legislature and
are both quite well and prominently known throughout the
state. Nathaniel Davis, a recent graduated of Dartmouth,
the son of the former, is acting as resident and assistant
manager. About thirty men are required to operate both
mills which run day and night except on Sunday.

A store has been opened; the patronage of the post
office increased; a telephone exchange now reaching into

WEST HOPKINTON 215

several towns originated here and bears the name of
the place; milk is delivered daily; Carr's saw mill has been
renovated and a steel penstock added; a new and larger
school house is projected; for miles around the farmers set
their timepieces by the whistle that goes hand in hand with
the hum and wheels of industry, and marks the advent of
day and night; the- depot, for the first time in its history, is
heated and in charge of an attendant; and every passing
train stops to accommodate the increasing traffic and travel.

Such has been the marvelous change at West Hopkin-
ton, and who can truly speculate upon its future growth and
development? Nowhere on the Contoocook is there a bet-
ter location for an industry or a better chance to utilize the
splendid water power. Here it almost seems that Nature
forestalled man in her preparation to dam the river's mighty
resources. On either side of the stream the banks rise to
a great height and the river falls many feet in coming a
short distance above the present dam. Whenever the
power is properly harnessvd it will be productive of far
greater results than it is capable of producing to-day. The
time is not far distant when here, as upon other streams
and sources of water power, a dam will be so constructed
as to conserve much of the power that is now running to
waste over the dam.

A mile or more from West Hopkinton is a pond fed by
springs and its bottom is of clear white sand. This would
make an excellent water supply for the town, and its head
is several hundred feet higher than the town.

Fertile farms which could produce the necessary food
supply surround this place so equipped by Nature and so
ideal a location for a larger growth.

Hobc Ht <£bentttie

By Florence Louise Bush

"Love" came to me at eventide,

Garbed in pure robe of white;

A vision fair and beautiful,

That filled me with delight.

I felt my heart go out to her,

Nor sought the fact to hide;

And thus it was ''Love" came to me,

At peaceful eventide.

''Love" came to me at eventide,

Glad smiles wreathed her face;

I opened wide my arms to her,

In loving, fon r > embrace.

The memory of th it fond caress,

Must with me e'er abide;

And thus it was "Love"' came to me,

At peaceful eventide.

"Love" came to be at eventide,

And on my lips she pressed,

A soft, sweet kiss, replete with love,

And innate tenderness.

The soothing influence of that kiss,

Nor would I be denied;

And thus it was "Love" came to me,

At peaceful eventide.

*'Love" came to me at eventide,
As sank the sun to rest;
And told me that of all God's gifts,
Love surely was most bless'd.
For evermore within my heart,
•Will "Love," sweet love reside;
A welcomed guest, the guest that came
To me at eventide.

216

•

.; "■'- Nf

. .

M t

■dr i

r v

i •

■

•

1 /

■

•

JOHX G. WHITHER

Ctamt)le£ in l©!j t tt ler =Hanb

By Martin W. Hoyt

"To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language.*'

— William Cullen Bryant.

€J£ LL great poets have been pre-eminently lovers of na-
2~jj ture from the days of "Scio's blind old bard" down
f^*^ to the present age, and the infallible guage of each
one's greatness has ever been the exactness and vividness
with which he has depicted nature's constantly varying
phases.

Every real lover of nature, with the ability to put him-
self in touch with her inner teachings, and her veiled in-
spirations, is, in a way, a poet, albeit he may never, in a
lifetime, have even so much as conceived the idea of framing
a single line of metered language. All persons of poetic
temperament have the faculty of perception, but all are
not alike expressive. Very few are they upon whom the
"silver tongue" has been bestowed with anything like un-
stinted lavishness.

Bryant was notedly able to come at the spirit of nature,
insomuch as to be frequently, nay even commonly, spoken
of as Nature's poet, and not many degrees behind him in
this respect we meet with John G. Whittier, "Poet of the
Merrimack, and of the People."

It is often said that his environments make the individ-
ual, but I do not think this can be true; but environments
certainly do always act as a powerful agent in developing
the innate and characteristic genius which nature has
stamped upon each and every man of note.

The environments of Whittier were most admirably
217

218 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

fitted to make him the child of nature and the brother of
his fellow-man. Cradled in a rustic glen somewhat remote
from any thickly settled centre, passing his childhood and
early boyhood with little but the unmarred voices of nature
to fall upon his attentive ear, Whittier advanced through
the stages of life up to early manhood in an unrestricted
round of delicious absorption of all those essential elements
which later on enabled him to pour out upon the world
grand and noble ideas with so much of zeal and fervor.

If solitude was essential to his development it is cer-
tain that this feature was not lacking in his surroundings;
for in the time of his boyhood no neighbor's dwelling was
to be seen from his home, and the same may said of it to-
day. Nestled among the hills nearby the spot where, four
generations previous to the poet's birth, the first sturdy
Whittier had choosen to carve out with his axe a home in
the primeval wilderness, it lies now as it lay then, saving
that the vast forest has vanished, while grass grown fields
and open grazing grounds have taken its place.

Little though there may have been in the immediate
neighborhood of young Whittier's home likely to arouse
into action his poetic instinct, yet it was not a great dis-
tance to that far-famed gem of the valley, that beauteous
sylvan dream, the Merrimack River. Herein lay all that
was needful to call forth the best that was in the poet.
Here were the Pierian springs of his genius, and here be-
side this silver ribbon lying in the lap of the green mead-
ows were the oft-frequented haunts where he dreamed and
communed with nature until the music latent within him
burst into audible song. Some of his dreams he has be-
queathed to us clothed in the garb of verse immortal.

Whittier loved the Merrimack. He drank deeply of
the inspiration it offered him, and in return for what it
gave him he has rendered it celebrated down to the last
syllable of recorded time. How much he loved it may be
inferred when he sings:

RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND 219

"Home of my fathers' — I have stood
Where Hudson rolled his lordly flood;
Seen sunrise rest and sunset fade
Along his frowning Palisade;
Looked down the Apalachian peak
On Juniata's silver streak;
Have seen along his valley gleam
The Mohawk's softly winding stream;
The level light of sunset shine
Through broad Potomac's hem of pine;
And autumn's rainbow-tinted banner
Hang lightly o'er the Susquehanna;
Yet, wheresoe'er his step might be
Thy wandering child looked back to thee!
Heard in his dreams thy river's sound
Of murmuring on his pebbly bound."

— The Merrimack.

How deeply he regretted the marring of its pristine
beauty and the sacrifice of its poetry to modern industrial
demands is voiced in a few lines from "The Bridal of Pen-
nacook:"

"O Stream of the Mountains! if answer of thine
Could rise from thy waters to question of mine,
Methinks through the din of thy thronged banks a moan
Of sorrow would swell for the days which have gone.

"Not for thee the dull jar of the loom and the wheel,
The gliding of shuttles, the ringing of steel;
But that old voice of waters, of bird and of breeze,
The dip of the wild-fowl, the rustling of trees."

• To-day it is given us to wander where he wandered, for
he has left the wherewith to guide our footsteps, and if we
cannot dream his dreams we can at least read of them that
which he has left to us. This we shall do if we love nature
and nature's true children — the poets. If we love Whittier
what keener delight can there be than, with our treasured
volume of his poems in hand, to trace out his favorite walks
by the river side or through the "remembered groves" or
beside the lakelet with sunlight glinting o'er its waters, try-
ing in our poor way to enter into his thoughts?

220 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

Let us give our attention for a brief time to Rocks
Village, the scene of some of his best loved poems.

"Over the wooded northern ridge,
Between the houses brown,
To the dark tunnel of the bridge
The street comes straggling down.

"You catch a glimpse through birch and pine,
Of gable, roof and porch,
The tavern with its swinging sign,
The sharp horn of the church.

"The river's steel-blue crescent curves
To meet in ebb and flow,
The single broken wharf that serves
For sloop and gundelow.

"You hear the pier's low undertone
Of waves that chafe and gnaw;
You start — a skipper's horn is blown
To raise a creaking draw.

"A place for idle eyes and ears,
A cobwebbed nook of dreams;
Left by the stream whose waves are years
The stranded village seems."

— The Countess.

How many, many times, have I passed over that ridge
and between the houses brown! Unhappily the growth of
wood has now largely disappeared, and the poetry well-
nigh gone out of the "dark tunnel of the bridge," for one-
half the old wooden structure has been removed, and a
graceful iron fabric has taken its place. The West New-
bury portion is still standing as in days of yore, but time
will eventually demand its removal, too. No longer can one

"Hear the pier's low undertone
Of waves that chafe and gnaw."

The rippling of the current above the stone work is audible
enough, but it is not now that peculiar, low, pensive moan
which formerly the long reverberating tunnel bore to the
ear. The river's "steel-blue crescent" still curves as in

.-■..■*"< if # ; ||^ *

OLD ROCKS BRIDGE

t -

****** << i\ h?* I fed! : 2*M

r ■;'"""■ ■'..•• ■ s\

- ... . , Mz£& -J^CcvJLzaLz- ■ ..

ZS-^S&r^-^L

^Jl- "-w, 'j^H

BIRTHPLACE OF THE COUNTESS

RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND 221

the poet's time, but no longer ''meets, in ebb and flow, the
single broken wharf that serves for sloop and gundelow."
At low tide a few blackened and mouldering timbers pro-
truding from the river bed serve to mark the former site of
this wharf, and nothing more of it now remains.

This bridge spanning the stream at "Rocks Village"
serves as a species of pleasure resort for the villagers.
Here, upon its broad deck, they love to linger, and saunter
and watch the steamer Merrimack, laden with her human
freight, as she glides easily through the draw on her way
from the city to the sea, or from the sea to the city. Here
the younger element of the community sometimes gathers
to ride upon the draw as it slowly turns on its massive
foundation to admit the passing of the plying craft. At
the sunset hour the river here is liberally dotted with mo-
tor boats, a numerous fleet of which has rendezvous at
Haverhill city.

Some miles below this, and nearer the vicinity of Ames-
bury, there is a riverside scene of remarkable beauty to be
enjoyed when one can be so fortunate as to catch nature in
the proper mood.

Whittier makes mention of it in his poem, "The
River Path."

"No bird-song floated down the hill,
The tangled bank below was still;

"No rustle from the birchen stem,
No ripple from the water's hem.

"The dusk of twilight round us grew,
We felt the falling of the dew;

Tor, from us, ere the day was done,
The wooded hills shut out the sun.

"But on the river's further side
We saw the hill-tops glorified.

U A tender glow, exceeding fair,
A dream of day without its glare.

"With us the damp, the chill, the gloom:
With them the sunset's rosy bloom;

222 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

"While dark, through willowy vistas seen,
The river rolled in shade between.

"Sudden our pathway turned from night;
The hills sprang open to the light;

•'Through their green gates the sunshine showed,
A long, slant splendor downward flowed.

"Down glade and glen and bank it rolled;
It bridged the shaded-stream with gold;

"And, borne on piers of mist, allied
The shadowy with the sunlit side!"

It is a scene of indescribable beauty to see the rising
slopes of Newbury thus suddenly flooded with all the
glories of a golden summer sunset while the enthralled spec-
tator stands immersed in the shadow of the heights on the
Amesbury side of the stream. Even Whittier himself has
not been able adequately to depict its charms in his word
picture. This river path is easy to find and follow, and
there is no difficulty in picking out the identical spot where
the poet must have been to conceive his verse, while row-
ing near the sunset hour.

The Merrimack river is, indeed, a veritable dream in
itself — a thing of beauty all the way from Haverhill city
down to the sea. At times, when the air is quiet, and the
tide, having reached the limit of its flow, pauses for a brief
period ere it begins to recede, the water's surface becomes
a vast and glittering sheen, a flawless reflector, mirroring
back with perfect fidelity the green, grassy fields sloping
down to the river's' very brink on either bank, as well as
the blue vault of overarching sky flecked with here and
there a fleecy cloud.

There are many places of interest to the student of Whit-
tier in East Haverhill, that section of the township now for-
ever celebrated as the envied birthplace of the "Quaker
Poet." Here may be seen the old home of the gentle, beauti-
ful village maiden who married the exiled Gascon Count, to
be in few short months borne by sorrowing friends to Green-

RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND 223

wood Cemetery, where now for a century she has been
sleeping away the last, long sleep on a beautiful river ter-
race. A protecting iron grating guards the slab marking
her resting place from the depredations of vandal hands,
for the poet has immortalized the home of the living and
that of the dead girl until many curious visitors visit both
each year, all anxious to bear away with them some souve-
nir of the spot.

"Her rest is quiet on the hill,
Beneath the locust bloom:
Far off her lover sleeps as still
Within his scutcheoned tomb.

"The Gascon lord, the village maid,
In love still clasp their hands;
The love that levels rank and grade
Unites their severed lands.

"What matter whose the hillside grave
Or whose the blazoned stone?
Forever to her western wave
Shall whisper blue Garonne!

"And while ancestral pride shall twine
The Gascon's tomb with flowers,
Fall sweetly here, O song of mine,
With summer's bloom and showers."

— The Countess.

To those who may care to read it, the poem, "The
Countess," will tell the tale.

On a little plain, something like half a mile from the
river, stands the Old Garrison House, a grim and forbid-
ding structure, relic of that former perilous period when
the "painted demons" of the forest were wont to make
nights a terror with their slaughters and burnings. To-day
it stands in very much the same condition as when it
afforded shelter to the helpless women and frightened
children driven from their homes by the ruthless savage.
Whether it was ever the scene of a midnight attack by the
Indians, I have been unable to learn. I have often

224 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

wondered why Whittier has made no mention of the place.
He may have done so, but there is nothing extant, so far as
I know. On a calm and peaceful evening it is sometimes a
pleasure to stroll around the old structure and try to pic-
ture the scene when the wild wilderness was all about on
every hand, and no one knew at what moment the red
fiends might fall upon him out of its depths. Speaking of
those times of the early settlements, the poet says:

"Behind, unbroken, deep and dread,
The wild, untraveled forest spread,
Back to those mountains, white and cold,
Of which the Indian trapper told,
Upon whose summits never yet
Was mortal foot in safety set,"

meaning, of course, the White Mountains.

Though he has given us nothing about the Garrison
House, he has sketched a vivid picture of a midnight massa-
cre, occurring only a few miles away from 'it, when the set-
tlement at Pentucket lay one night buried in peaceful and
unsuspecting sleep.

"What forms were those which darkly stood
Just on the margin of the wood? —
Charred tree-stumps in the moonlight dim,
Or paling rude, or leafless limb?
No — through the trees fierce eyeballs glowed
Dark human forms in moonshine showed,
Wild from their native wilderness,
With painted limbs and battle dress!

"The morning sun looked brightly through
The river willows, wet with dew.
No sound of combat filled the air, —
No shout was heard, — nor gunshot there:
Yet still the thick and sullen smoke
From smouldering ruins slowly broke;
And on the greensward many a stain,
And here and there, the mangled slain,
Told how that midnight bolt had sped.
Pentucket, on thy fated head."

—Pentucket.
( To be Continued.)

<*:

hii-iii

ii!-U| ! !fi ; i

i>- ■"■• l 3$

IK m

I ill

■■'i'l lill'lp

iil

I IV

i;i-r.i=

IH'lil'Ililli'li 1 i

■:■■■ ' ' \£*- : :^

**f-*%V

V7^£3

sW|p^pi f

s ^'^ r . @M: if A'

itl4l < : w

\\w, -■•*:%

'■ : Hi

'. MM

'I'll!

; few

!^^^

i -Vv-' 1 ^ P, tf?A

:.--:-■".■ Gki&M

ill

ihi.;.!'

I ■■ *£r- v P x > Ps«?

' mm \ .Wat

\ ■ !| f A * IIP as :««f : t$g&

3!n ^tase=Coacf) ^aps

By George Waldo Browne

From Post-Riders to Mail-Coaches

O more varied or picturesque type of earning a live-
lihood could be found than the post-riders; and
the experience of any one of them, spiced with
the anecdotes of their acquaintance and seasoned with the
hardships of their long drives, would fill a volume.

One of the most successful of New England post-
riders was Ginery Twitchell of Worcester, Mass., later
President of the Boston & Worcester Railroad, and then
elected to the United States Congress. In the midst of
the great national excitement during the Mexican War,
when an invasion of Texas was threatened, a steamer from
Liverpool arrived in Boston January 23, 1846, with import-
ant documents upon which President Polk was expected to
base his plans. Anticipating these facts, the leading New
York papers had arranged two lines of express riders to
get the news to them as quickly as possible. Both these
riders were to go to Worcester by train, and there sepa-
rate, one traveling by way of Hartford and the other by
Norwich, Conn. Ginery Twitchell was selected to go by
Hartford, and this indomitable rider showed that he had
prepared for even snowstorms by having relays of horses
at every ten miles beyond Worcester.

The wisdom of his forethought was apparent when
the train pulled into the station and it was learned that the
roads were blocked with snow, while it was still storming.
Nothing daunted, the gallant post-riders left the cars and
mounting their waiting horses rode bravely away on their

225

226 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

long journeys. Despite the drifted and drifting snows the
doughty veteran, Ginery Twitchell, pursued his laborious
course, making the frequent change of horses he had
planned, always finding them in readiness for him, so that
he reached Hartford, a distance of sixty-four miles, in three
hours and twenty minutes. Leaving a budget of news
there, he kept on without stopping to recruit, to reach
New York four hours ahead of his rival, who made a de-
termined effort to win, and who was no mean competitor.

A notable achievement of a post-rider was that of Rev.
John Whitman, who rode across the continent with an ap-
peal to our government to save the Northwest country to
the United States. The great political question then be-
fore the people was the fixing of the international bound-
ary line on the north between this country and Great
Britain. It was thought by many that it might involve the
two countries in war, and it came near to doing so when dur-
ing the campaign which resulted in the election of James K.
Polk for President, the rallying cry was "54-40 or fight !"

Under the treaty of 1842 the northwestern boundary
was fixed at the east base of the Rocky Mountains on the
forty-fifth parallel. The continuation of this line to the
Pacific would have given Great Britain the entire state of
Washington and the valley of the Columbia River. Mr.
Webster was then Secretary of State and he fell into the
grave error of thinking that this rich country was worth
but little to us. Accordingly he was willing to make con-
cession of this territory in order to avoid war and save a
few fishing rights. Mr. Whitman started on horseback
and alone to bear the petition of a handful of people to be
saved to the Union. He arrived in Washington in Octo-
ber, and immediately sought Mr. Webster, who listened to
his vivid account with wonder.

"Oregon?" he asked vaguely, "why, we are about to
trade it off for some cod-fisheries !"

The appeal of the missionary post-rider was opportune
and successful. The interest of the Great Expounder was

FROM POST-RIDERS TO MAIL-COACHES 227

quickly enlisted, and our "Grand New Northwest," as it
was soon styled, was saved to us.

The routes of the post-riders could be traced by the
notices in the local papers. The newspapers and packages
were carried in large saddle-bags, and the letters in a pouch
slung over the shoulder of a rider. Merchants not infre-
quently employed them to carry their articles, and it was
not uncommon for them to take along horses for delivery
at certain places. They usually bestrode animals worthy
of their own mettle.

Fault-finders were as common in the days of post-rid-
ers as since, and no doubt were just as human. At least
not all postmen met with popular favor, and prior to the
Revolution it was said of one Peter Mumford, the rider
from Boston to Newport, R. I., that he not only started out
late, dallied on the way, but that he often fell asleep!
It was charged of another that he allowed his Whig friends
to open and read the letters during a political campaign. It
was described of the scene along the route from Charles-
town to Wilmington that "death is painted in the counte-
nances of those you meet."

In 1775 the colonists were driven to their wit's end to
maintain a system of mail distribution. The provincial
congress of Massachusetts in May, 1775, established a postal
system of fourteen offices at its own expense. The head-
quarters was at Cambridge, and the route extended as far
north as Falmouth, Me. Portsmouth was included in this
system. Beyond Falmouth the post-riders were paid by
congress. The average distance covered by one of these
postmen was from thirty to fifty miles in summer and about
one-half this in winter.

A pleasant and characteristic story is told of the post-
boys of the old school by S. Baring Gould, in his account
of one George Spurle, which I cannot do better than to in-
corporate in my rambling narrative:

Like every other postboy old George loved his horses.
There was one gray mare of which he was especially fond.

228 IN STAGE-COACH HAYS

One night she got her halter twisted about her neck and
was found strangled. George Spurle sat down and cried.
The landlord endeavored to comfort him.

"George," said he, "don't take on so. After all, it was
only a horse. Now if you had lost a wife — "

"Ah, maister," replied the postboy, "wives ! One has
but to hold up the finger and they'd come flying to y'
from all sides — more than you could accommodate; but a
hoss, and such a mare as this — booh !" and he burst into
tears.

The secret of his affection for the horse came out long
after. Some of us asked him if he had ever been robbed on
the road.

"I'll just tell y', gentlemen. There was some bullion
to be sent up to London from Falmouth. I knowed noth-
ing about it, and drove up with a closed carriage to pick
up a gentleman at Tavistock. I hadn't got half way across
the moors, when I was stopped by a man on horseback,
with his face blackened. He leveled a pistol at my head, so
I pulled up.

"In a rough voice he asked me who was in the chaise.
'No one/ said I. 'But there's something,' said he. 'The
cushions,' said I. 'Get down,' said he, 'and hold my hoss,
you rascal, while I search the chaise.' 'I'm at your service,'
said I, and I took his horse by the bridle, and as I passed
my hand along I felt that there were saddlebags.

"Well, that highwayman opened the chaise door and
went in to overhaul things, and meantime I undid the
traces of my horses with one hand and held the highway-
man's horse with the other.

"Presently he put his head out and said, 'there's noth-
ing within; I must search behind.' 'You've plenty of time,'
said I, and so saying, I leaped into his saddle and shouted,
'Gee up and along, Beauty and Jolly Boy !' and spurred his
horse, and away I galloped with the stage horses a-gallop-
ing after me, and we never stayed till we got to Chudleigh.

' "And the saddlebags?" '

FROM POST-RIDERS TO MAIL-COACHES 229

"There was a lot of money in them, but there's my
luck. That fellow had robbed a serge-maker, and he went
and claimed it all and gave me a guinea and the highway-
man's hoss; and that same hoss, gentlemen, is the old gray
mare as folks ha' laughed at me for crying over. Now it
was a coorious sarcumstance that that there highwayman
went scot-free and the poor innocent gray was hanged."

George Spurle lived to old age. He fell ill suddenly,
and died before any one in town suspected his danger.
But he had no doubt in his own mind that the sickness
would end fatally, and he had asked one day to see the
landlady of the inn.

"Beg pardon, ma'am," he said, from his bed, touching
his forelock. "Very sorry I han't shaved for two days, and
you should see me thus. But please, ma'am, if it's no of-
fence, be you wan tin' that there yellow jacket any more?
It seems to me postboys is gone out altogether."

"No, George, I certainly don't want it."

"Nor these? You'll certainly understand me, ma'am,
if I don't mention 'em?"

"No, George."

•'Nor that there old white beaver? I did my best, but
it's a bit rubbed."

"I certainly don't need it."

"Thank you, ma'am. Then may I make so bold,
might I be buried in em' as the last of the old postboys?"

The first stage coach in this country was inaugurated
by John Ward well, proprietor of the Orange Tree Inn,
Boston, and was a line running from his tavern to Provi-
dence, (?) Rhode Island. This was opened for travel May
I3i 171 8, and three years later a road-wagon was run over
this same route. This line must have flourished, for in 1734
we find two stage-coaches advertised in the Boston papers
to run on this road.

In 1784, when the post-road had become somewhat of
a back number, Capt. Levi Pease, a Connecticut farmer,
established a regular stage line between Hartford and

230 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

Boston, which line was extended later to New York.
Captain Pease afterwards removed to Shrewsbury, near
Worcester, Mass., where he became the moving spirit of
the new enterprise, stage-driving. He may be credited
with being the '-Father of the Turnpike," as in 1808,
through his energy and enterprise, the first Massachusetts
turnpike was laid out, running from Boston to Worcester.

A great stride in the advancement of the postal sys-
tem was inaugurated in 1753, when Benjamin Franklin was
made deputy-postmaster for the American Colonies.
Franklin had already shown his capacity and interest in
this direction through his management of the postal affairs
of Pennsylvania. During his first year of the office he
made a personal tour of the country, visiting every post-
office in the colony except that at Charleston, S. C. He
not only inspected the routes already established, but he
planned and laid out new ones, He rode in a chaise with
a registering wheel attached, marking the distance made,
men going with him to set up mile-posts on the "Old
Road" or "King's Highway." It is interesting to note
that no salary was fixed to the office, but Mr. Franklin, and
also Mr. William Hunter, who was associated with him in
the work, were to receive six hundred pounds if they could
get it out of the profits of the department. For the first
four years they run behind nine hundred pounds, but from
that time on it not only paid them but yielded to Great
Britain considerable profit. On account of his sympathy
with the colonies Franklin was dismissed from his office of
deputy-postmaster-general January 31, 1774.

He visited Portsmouth and established routes wholly
or in part in New Hampshire.

James Franklin, a brother of Benjamin, was made post-
master of Boston in 1754, and he had his office in his house
on Cornhill.

Post-riders and postmasters, by an act of the General
Court, were exempt from military duty July 5, 1777.

FROM POST-RIDERS TO MAIL-COACHES 231

The evolution of the stage-coach forms an interesting
bit of history. It will be noticed we have already spoken
of the stage-coach and the road-wagon. In 1767 a line of
conveyance was established between Boston and Salem,
known as the "StageChaise." The vehicles used on shorter
routes seemed to have been generally known as the "Stage-
Coach," "stage-wagon." Boston was connected in 1872
with Marblehead by a carriage transportation called "the
stage-chariot."

Even this was outdone by Bartholomew Stavers, who
in May, 1763, announced that his "Flying Stage-Coach"
was running with four and six horses and that he would
take passengers from Portsmouth, N. H., to Boston for
13s. 6d., including fare "at good inns on the way where
good entertainment and attendance are provided for the
passengers in the coach." This coach could carry six per-
sons inside.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Stavers had opened a line to
Boston with the following advertisement in April:

"For the Encouragement of Trade from Portsmouth
to Boston

"A LARGE STAGE CHAIR

With two good horses, well equipped, will be ready by
Monday the 20th inst. to start out from Mr. Stavers, inn-
holders, at the Sign of the Earl of Halifax, in this town to
perform once a week; to lodge at Ipswich the same night;
from thence through Medford to Charlestown Ferry; to
tarry at Charlestown till Thursday morning, so as to return
to this town the next day; to set out again on the Monday
following: It will be contrived to carry four persons besides
the driver. In case only two persons go they may be ac-
commodated to carry things of bulk and value to make a
third or fourth person. The price will be Thirteen shil-
lings and sixpence sterling for each person from hence to
Boston, and at the same rate of conveyance back again;

232 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

though under no obligation to return in the same week in
the same manner.

"Those who would not be disappointed must- enter
their names at Mr. Stavers on Saturday, any time before
nine o'clock in the evening, and pay half at entrance, the
remainder at the end of the journey. Any gentleman may
have business transacted at Newbury or Boston with fidel-
ity and despatch, on reasonable terms.

"As ladies and gentlemen are often at a loss for good
accommodations for traveling from hence, and can't return
in less than three weeks or a month, it is hoped that this
undertaking will meet with suitable encouragement, as they
will be wholly freed from the care and charge of keeping
chairs and horses, or returning before they have finished
their business."

Bartholomew Stavers, who must be considered as the
pioneer stage-driver in New Hampshire, or northern New-
England for that matter, seems to have come to Ports-
mouth, with his brother John in 1755. He was a very en-
ergetic man, described as being rather below medium
height, with a florid countenance. As has been shown, his
stages were started from his brother's stable at "The Earl
of Halifax" inn, on what was then called Queen's street,
since changed to State street. It is needless to say that
the opening of this stage route was an event equal to the
opening of a railroad in the four-score years to follow. Hith-
erto there had been no means of public passage anywhere
in the state. Mr. Stavers inherited a strong love for his
native land, and he looked upon the movements of the dis-
contented colonists as uncalled for and likely to bring the
necks of the "rebels" to the halter. In this frame of mind
he returned to England in December, 1774, leaving his wife
and unborn son behind. He never came back to this coun-
try, and thus he never saw his son Willliam born after his
departure.

( To be Conduced.)

CHARACTER SKETCHES

No. XI
THE CLOCK TINKEK

! 1

"-"•

■

$;.

Character Sketches

XI
"The Clock Tinker"

^<2r^

OT MANY years since it was no infrequent
sight to see a solitary wayfarer plodding slowly
and laboriously along the roads of our country
towns, freighted down with an enormous bundle
on his back. So big and bulky was this load sometimes
that it seemed a wonder one small man could stand under it,
much more carry it for miles over the hills whither wound the
road. But it was not as heavy as it looked, it may be,
and the carrier had become used to bearing his burden. So let
the weather be hot or cold, the day long or short, he did not
fail in his regular round of calls, until at last came the day
which failed to send him forth.

With this traveling peddler was another class quite as
well known and fully as much looked for as he. This was
the traveling repairer of the time-pieces of the rural homes,
the "clock tinker," in common parlance. He, too, carried his
burden, which consisted chiefly of a kit of tools needed in his
craft; he, too, was good-natured, and was the vender of the
gossip of the hour, which he had picked up in his wander-
ings. These two, the pack-peddler and the clock tinker, were
in a way the daily- -no, the occasional papers of the times.

By this it must not be supposed their duties were of slight
importance. Far from it. There was the old wcoden clock
in the corner, the clock grandfather had made, which needed
occasional attention So he was always certain to receive a
warm welcome, and a generous patronage. At least suffi-
cient patronage to meet the demands of his frugal habits.

We remember two or three of this class. One was kindly
known as "Old Crombie." He was a silent, taciturn man;
tall, with stooping shoulders, a countenance that had little

claims to good looks, but was withal kindly. It was said by
those who had succeeded in obtaining his confidence that
he had taken to the road on account of an opposition of his
parents to his marriage with the girl of his choice He was
heir apparent to a good fortune; she was poor, except in her
beauty and womanly grace For more than two-score years
Old Crombie came and went, as regularly as the pendulum
of the old clocks he repaired with loving care ticked the min-
utes into hours; and then there came a season when he failed
to come Some said he had gone to the home of his child-
hood, to spend his remaining years in idleness and comfort.
Aunt Jenny, whom we knew as a boy and who knew him
well, shook her head, declaring that "Old Crombie was dead."
We still like to think that he was not unfaithful at the last to
his early love.

It was not long before in his steps came another called in
the same kindly spirit, "Old Greene." Sometimes we wonder
why, when we wish to speak reverently of one, we apply
that adjective. Is it because we love old age so well? Let it
be as it may, Uncle Greene has now laid aside his kit, and gone
where clocks are supposed to be perpetual, if neeeed at all.
Peace to his ashes; ay, peace to the ashes of the little army of
clock tinkers that once were such familiar figures in New
England.

Now that leads the reader to infer that they are known
no more. We did not mean just that. Mr. French, in
painting the life-like picture we are giving, fortunately found
one of the craft, who gladly posed for the artist. Had the lat-
ter cared to turn his subject, so as to bring his strong profile
into view, many of you would doubtless recognize him, for he
still plies his vocation; still pursues his route over the hills and
through the valleys of New Hampshire, though not regularly
as the others mentioned. We know him, as typical of his
class, good-natured, easy-going, faithful to his task, the same
imperturable caller at your hearthstone if you employ him or
not. Long may he live to ply his vocation, if the last not the
least of his fellow craftsmen.

Cfje editor's TOntioto

Uegenb of OfjoSt IfoHoto

William C. Walker, "Uncle Billy," as his friends know
him, vouches for the truth of the following o'er true tale of
Thornton, situated at the gateway of Franconia Notch.
Even if there is a vein of fancy in the story, it has proved
good enough to outlive the memory of more than one gen-
eration. The time was when the village tavern was kept
by one Moody Elliott, something of a wag as well as a
cheery boniface. In his employ was a young man by the
name of Richard Dustin, the Christian part shortened to
"Dick."

It so happened, and we do not know why it should have
been different, that Dick had a girl he used to call upon as
often as once a week. As this fair damsel lived in a remote
section known as Mad River settlement, the lover had a
good long distance to go in order to pay his court to the
object of his affection. But Love's miles are short, and
the journey never seemed overlong to the young man.

The landlord proposed to a friend that they treat Dick
to a surprise, thinking perhaps it would serve to keep the
lover from falling asleep after his long vigil by the side of
his sweetheart. It was a sleepy place, known in local par-
lance as "The Valley of Contempt," where this plotter and
his confederate planned to waylay Dick. Why this old
maidish name was given it, even Uncle Billy did not ex-
plain. It might have been called "Blind Man's Gulf," or
some other hair-raising title. But we will not dwell upon
that matter.

Promptly at the time when it was expected that Dick
would be returning, Mine Host and his companion, one

237

•238 the editor's window

Tilston Blaisdell, were on hand at the valley. The last-
named had robbed his own bed of the sheet, and this ghostly
raiment he had pulled about him until his bulky form
loomed in the dim starlight like the spectre of Hamlet's
father. So weird did his companion look to him, the inn-keep-
er, who had helped to deck out the other in his grave clothes,
could scarcely look upon him without a shiver. He carried
a lantern, carefully concealed under a thick blanket, and a
cow bell, intending to flash the first in the face of the ter-
rified Dick, while he awoke the silence of the dismal woods
with the sonorous reverberations of the latter. They were
satisfied that they had laid their plans well. All that they
waited for was the victim.

For him they;waited long. Far away a nightbird fin-
ished its song ere he came. A lonely owl hooted dismally
and became silent. The hour when the forest folk, the
elfins and naiads, are supposed to people the woods, passed
without further disturbance than the creaking of a couple
of boughs in a distant pine as they rubbed elbows in the
space between the darkness of earth and sky. He in ghostly
attire muttered something under his breath that proved
he was a ghost of a very depraved mind. Perhaps he was
thinking of the reception he should receive when he re-
turned to meet his spouse, who might be even then turning
the house topsy-turvy in her wild search for the missing
sheet.

But hark ! It must have been two o'clock when the
steady tread of iron-shod feet aroused the sleepy twain to a
sense of their purpose in being in that unhallowed spot at
that unreasonable hour.

"It's Dick," muttered the inn-keeper, "and I do believe
he is asleep on his hoss. Are ye ready, Tilt?"

The horse must have have scented danger, for it sud-
denly pricked up its ears, and snorted. This awoke the
rider to the realization that something was amiss. And as
he wondered, lo ! a white-robed figure sprang in front of him
and a voice, had he not been so frightened he must have
recognized, bawled:

the editor's window 239

"I am the devil and I've come for you!"

Dick gave an unearthly yell, and struck at the spectral
form in his pathway with his huge cotton umbrella. This
shows that he was a fellow of good metal. But this would-
%e defence with the umbrella proved his undoing. Instead
of becoming a weapon of use in his hand, the wings of the
thing opened right and left, until they fairly enveloped him.
Frightened at this unexpected development, the horse
started forward at a wild pace, and with Dick shouting at
the top of his lungs "whoa ! whoa !" and the umbrella flut-
tering in the air, it quickly vanished in the night, leaving a
badly scared "ghost" rolling in the dirt and a man with a
lantern trying to find out just what had happened.

Dick reached the tavern not entirely composed in his
mind, yet glad he had escaped his terrible enemy. The
others came later, or possibly it might have been called
earlier in the day. Of course Dick a few days later told of
his startling experience in the valley, the facts of his wild
ride losing nothing in his telling. He believed he was tell-
ing the truth. So there are many to-day who repeat the
stirring account in all sincerity. In time the inn-keeper and
his friend ventured to assert the part they played, but
somehow Dick's story had a stronger hold. Perhaps peo-
ple like better the weird and mysterious than the common-
place. At a^iy rate the Valley of Contempt, ever since
that night, has been known as "Ghost Hollow."

Coton histories;

The Lancaster Gazette touches upon a subject that is
so nearly what we would like to say, that we are going to
quote it here, with the suggestion that if any one will send
us a complete list of town histories to date, we will print it.

"Why is it that some of our literary people do not make
more of an effort to get into print some of those vastly

240 the editor's window

important records before the old timers move on? The
story of every town in the state ought to be printed now.
Population is changing so fast that every year adds to the
difficulty of collecting information, as old people die and
leave no descendants living in the state.

"Few have the patience for research work along this
line. Burrowing among the yellowing archives is not pop-
ular among most writers. Yet to those who know them,
these old records are full of human interest.

"The most routine appearing minutes of old town meet-
ings, church and society organizations, often yield material
for fascinating pictures of the life that was lived around
here many years ago. To the few who love such explora-
tion, it must be as fascinating as the finding of strange
scenes in a foreign land. It is probable that the life of
Coos county to-day differs more from its life in the days of
the first settlers, than the life of our town of to-day differs
from the life of the Breton peasant of France, or of the
Latin quarter of Paris.

"But one must admit that is hard work studying the
old records, peculiarly on the eyes. Where writers are will-
ing to undertake such labor, they ought to be offered a good
fair payment by state or towns, so that they should not
have to assume all the risks of publication."

What the early histories call "Concession Roads,"
were really not roads in the direct meaning of the word.
They were wide avenues cut through the forest so as to
dviide the lots of respective settlers. Incidentally they fre-
quently became courses of travel, but as a whole they proved
too expensive to maintain. The young growth soon sprang
up, and the passage soon became lost in the wilderness. A
few, however, became the originals of what are still known
in Canada as Concession Roads.

THE PICTURESQUE LAND

Illustrations From Oakes' White Mountain Scenery

ALONE

<X^0(K=>0

Mr. William Oakes, who was the originator and compiler of "Scenery of
the White Mountains," was not himself an artist, but he was an author of a
work upon the lichens of the White Mountains, and it was while investigating
this subject that he conceived the idea of the work from which the following illus-
trations were taken. Unfortunately he was drowned in the summer of the year
his book appeared.

- &ii. Sd

.";■-.

i •,

* .

-- ;

fcV"-": -"

•"

p#f

&& . f

£».'<, .- -.'

'-■ .

.-.1 * V

1^" i

•viv"

■ .

v
•;

■"<'

^ #

•

r^Js

. — > .:-■•'"' - . .V:.. ^ \.&&

From a Painting by Isaac Sprague. 1847

NANCY'S ROCK

; "

Nancy's Rock

rf^TARR KING, the prose poet of the White
§^i Hills, is led to exclaim: "In Scotland a highland
pass so wild and romantic as that from Upper
Bartlett to the Crawford House, would be
overhung with traditions along the whole winding wall
of its wilderness; and legends that had been enshrined in
song and ballad would be as plentiful as the streams
that leap towards the Saco, down their rocky stairs.
But no hill, no sheer battlement, no torrent that ploughs
and drains the barriers of this narrow and tortuous glen,
suggests any Indian Legend. One cascade, however, about
half a mile from the former residence of old Abel Crawford,
is more honored by the sad story associated with it than by
the picturesqueness of the crags through which it hurries
for the last mile or two of its descending course. It is
called 'Nancy's Brook,' and the stage drivers show to the
passengers the stone which is the particular monument of
the tragedy, bearing the name of 'Nancy's Rock.' '

The story of the ill-fated Nancy is worthy of the po-
etic treatment of a Whittier. Her name is also worthy of
remembrance rrom the fact that she was the second woman
to pass up through the Notch, as one of the family of Colonel
Whipple, in the spring of 1776. Among Colonel Whipple's
men servants was a young man who won her affections and
promised to marry her. In order to make the necessary
preparations for their wedding, he started on a journey back
to Portsmouth, with the understanding that he should return
as soon as possible. She not only placed explicit faith in
her lover's word, but trusted him with her earnings for the
previous two years' services in Colonel Whipple's family.

Not long after he had departed she learned that he had
boasted of the money he had got from her, and that he did
not intend to return, — that he had been false to her. In

243

From & Painting by Frankenstein

MT. WASHINGTON—SEEN OVER TUCKERMAN'S RAVINE

THE PICTURESQUE LAND 245

her grief she resolved to follow him, and recover her hard-
earned money if she did not win him back to her allegiance.
It was more than thirty miles to the first house below the
Notch, and as it was late in the season, her friends tried to
dissuade her from starting. Believing that thev had accom-
plished their purpose, and that she had abandoned such a
dangerous journey, where there were only marked trees to
guide her footsteps through the lonely country, the house-
hold went about its duties.

But the distracted girl had not been fully persuaded.
By starting at once she believed she could overtake her rec-
reant lover before he should have reached the Conway Inter-
vales, and so she went away on her perilous mission. Snow
had already fallen, and soon drenched by the wet bushes
she plodded wearily along. The day was short, and as
darkness closed in upon the mountain pass she wandered on
through the night. At daybreak it appeared as if she had
come upon his campfire, the embers of which were still
burning, telling her that he could not be far ahead. Wet,
cold and hungry, with tired limbs, but with a shadow of hope
in her heart, she resumed her lonely pursuit. As no one
ever listened to the story of her sufferings, of her illusions
and her feelings of despair, as she advanced with benumbed
feet and hands that refused to kindle the fire she fain
would have started, it can only be imagined that she finally
stumbled and fell at the foot of the rock which still bears
her name, and near the stream still singing the sad refrain
it sang on that wintrymorning one hundred and thirty-three
years ago.

Her friends had started in quest of her before morning
and they found her lifeless body, with her head resting upon
one hand, while the other still clasped the stout stick she
had carried as a slight means of defense against wild beasts
as well as a support in her tedious descent where only a
sure foot could tread with safety. So great was the grief
of her false lover upon hearing of her fate that, it is claimed,
he lost his reason and died bemoaning her untimely death.

The Hills of New Hampshire

By LUCY ALICE PERKINS
Illustration by S. E. Taylor

O, beautiful hills of New Hampshire,

Enrobed in their garment of green,
And tinted by sunshine and shadow,

Or veiled in a silvery sheen.
We love their still, sweet resting places,

Their forests of oak and of pine,
Their wide and far-reaching horizons,

Their visions of beauty divine.

O, grand are the hills of New Hampshire,
Uplifting their tops to the sky ;

Dear emblems of strength all unfailing,
That earth's storms and tempests defy.

We, too, would be strong and enduring,
Our faith reaching up to God's throne ;

THE PICTURESQUE LAND 247

Our love reaching down to His children
Who toil in life's valley alone.

O, wonderful hills of New Hampshire!

We fain would remain with them long;
But duty awaits in the valley,

And where duty calls, we belong.
But memory's canvas shall give us

Fair views of their loveliness still;
And better the work in the valley,

Because of the rest on the hill.

00>00<Ofl

Mt. Washington, Seen Over Tuckerman's Ravine

The artist has chosen one of the wildest and grand-
est views we get of the peerless mountain, and thrown
about it the white drapery of the clouds driven by the wind.
Tuckerman's Ravine is furrowed out of the side of the
mountain, with ragged wails that are enormously steep.
Where these meet at the bottom a silvery stream winds the
entire length, at places leaping in thin layers rocky shelves
and forming beautiful cascades. At its lower extremity
are two small ponds, their shores formed by slides or
gravel and granite that have filled the valley below. This
ravine was named for Edward Tuckerman, a mountain
climber and explorer, and who wrote several excellent
works on the lichens of the mountains.

Spaulding, in his "Relics of the White Mountains,"
denominates this vast amphitheatre as the "Mountain Coli-
seum." "In one place 'Hermit's Lake,' set like a rich gem
in its fanciful frame-work of changeless evergreen appears;
and, stopping to enjoy the prospect, the idea of overwhelm-
ing wonder rushes upon our spirit in this solitary spot.
Across the little lake, high up among the rolling clouds,
frowns Mount Washington, a view of which from this point
strangely contrasts with the sparkling water and evergreen
freshness of the surrounding woods. To the westward
rises the craggy top of Mount Monroe, and upon all sides,

248 THE PICTURESQUE LAND

except the outline of this little lake known as Crystal
Stream, appear high, towering cliffs, rendered pictures of
desolation by the deep, wide tracks of many an avalanche.
Little spots of verdure, blasted shrubbery, and piles of
granite fragments appear below, with the long snow bank and
snow-arch, over all in bold relief against the sky, the mighty
pile of mountains streaked by the silver threads of the
famous fall of a thousand streams.''''

Above the ravine is the great alpine plain which lies
on the southeast slope of Mount Washington, about twelve
hundred feet below its summit, and affording one of the
noblest views of alpine scenery in this country. It was up
these declivities that some of the earliest explorers, Cutler,
Gibbs, Bigelow, Boot and Peck, ascended the dangerous
pathways of which they were the pioneers. Since their
day the course of travel has changed; so few climb in their
footsteps, but those are paid by beholding vistas of the
mountain world unsurpassed for grandeur and variety
elsewhere.

;^v)i P

THE PARTING OF THE WATERS

Pioneers of Sagamore Creek

By John M. Moses

'HE lands bordering Sagamore Creek were very
early occupied, as they were nearest and most
inviting to the first settlers at Little Harbor. Its
extensive salt marshes were especially prized, as they
yielded without tillage a kind of hay on which cattle throve
well, and the adjacent uplands were as good for cultivation
as any in that not very fertile region.

The largest and best farm, about 1660, was that of
Thomas Walford. It consisted of some two hundred acres
of marsh and upland at the head of the creek and was called
Walford's Plantation. Its owner is said to have come from
England, with his wife Jane, to Wessigusset in September,
1623, with the Robert Gorges expedition. He was found
by the Puritans, prior to 163 1, living at Charlestown, Mass.,
in "an English palisadoed and thatched house," and ban-
ished by them for his Episcopalian tenets. He probably
went immediately to Portsmouth, where Mason was col-
lecting people, with a preference for those of Episcopal
faith. A record of May 25, 1640, names him and Henry
Sherburne as wardens of the Portsmouth Episcopal church.
He held other important offices up to his death, which
occurred in 1666 or 1667, when he was probably about
seventy-five years old. His wife Jane, born by deposition
about 1598, was living in 1669.

His only son as appears from his will, was Jeremiah,
who lived on the southwest part of Newcastle Island where
he died April 1 1, 1660, leaving four small children, Thomas,
Jeremiah, Mary and Martha. The sons died without issue,
bringing the name to an end. Mary married Joseph Mazeet
of Newcastle, and had a son Thomas. Martha married

249

250 PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK

— More, and had sons John and Samuel, who were of

York, Me., in 1735.

The daughters of Thomas and Jane were Jane (Pever-
ly, Goss,) Hannah (Jones, of Newcastle,) Mary (Brooking,
Walker,) Elizabeth (Savage) and Martha (Hinckson, West-
brook.)

Daughter Jane, with husband, Thomas Peverly, had
the farm next east on the south'side of the creek, on Pever-
ly Hill, separated from the Walford farm by Peverly brook.
This Thomas may have been son of a John Peverly said to
have been sent over by Mason. He had seventy-five acres
allotted him by the town in 1660. The site of his house
can probably be located from a clause in Thomas Walford's
will, which gives his grandson John Peverly "a point of
marsh north of the creek, one-half an acre, lying before his
father's door." This John, born by deposition about 1649,
had younger brothers, Thomas, Lazarus, Samuel and Jere-
miah, and sisters, Martha, Mary and Sarah, who married
respectively Christopher Noble, John Holmes and Michael
Hicks. Noble and Holmes were living in the vicinity in
1678.

Daughter Martha Walford, born by deposition about
1645, married, first, Thomas Hinckson. He died in June,
1664, leaving an infant daughter Mary, who was living in
1680. Martha married, second, before 1666, John West-
brook and had a son John, who is mentioned in her father's
will. Martha died before May 26, 1680. The Westbrooks
had the farm next West of the Walford plantation, extend-
ing up to the Parade at the Plains. In 1716 another son,
Colonel Thomas, was licensed to keep the first public house
at the Plains in consideration of his laying out six acres,
the present Parade, for the use of the militia. He built the
Waldron house, still standing, which was afterwards occu-
pied by his son-in-law, Richard Waldron, secretary of the
province.

John Westbrook had by will from his grandfather
Walford twenty acres off the north side of his plantation,

PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK 251

separated from it by the brook that crosses Greenleaf Ave-
nue, The Westbrooks had a landing on the creek at the
mouth of this brook. East of this twenty-acre tract, across
another brook, was upland and marsh of John and Mary
Holmes. Next to this, easterly, on the north side of the
creek, was upland and three acres of marsh of Mary Hinck-
son. Next east of this was a tract of marsh owned in 1680
by Hugh Lear, who had wife Mary. This marsh seems to
have belonged in 1667 to Walford's daughter Elizabeth,
wife of Henry Savage, entailed to their daughter Mary.
Had Hugh Lear married Mary Savage? East of this
marsh was one owned, in 1667, by William Brooking, per-
haps given him by his father-in-law Walford.

Daughter Mary Walford, born by deposition about
1635, rnarried William Brooking. A William Brooking is
said to have been sent to the Pascataqua by John Mason,
sometime prior to 1636, as Mason died December 12, 1635.
Rev. E. E. Stackpole in Old Kittery quotes a list, taken
from the New England Historical and Genealogical Regis-
ter of 1848, of "Names of Stewards and Servants sent by
John Mason, Esq., into this province of New Hampshire."
Among them are Sampson Lane, Francis Matthews, Fran-
cis Rand, James Johnson, Henry Sherburne, John Peverly,
William Seavey, William Berry, Jeremy Walford, William
Brookin, Thomas Walford and Alexander Jones, mentioned
in this article.

In 1655 William Brooking had a house on the north
shore of the creek west of the Middle road, not far from
where his marsh was located (2-5ob*, 13-115, N. H. Probate
Records 1-58, and Provincial Court Papers May 26, 1680.)
The tything men's list of 1678 seems to place him about
there. He died before 1695, leaving five daughters and
widow Mary, who married, second, William Walker (4-62a,)
who is referred to as owning land in that vicinity in 1694

779.)

Daughter Elizabeth Walford married Henry Savage,
who had lived prior to May 29, 1655, w i tn J- W. Davis as

252 PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK

neighbor, on the north shore of the creek just west of the
Middle road (2-500, 3-1382.) The tything men's list seems
to place him there. He died between 1693 and 1708, Eliza-
beth surviving him. They had a son John who died before
1726, probably leaving a son John of age, (N. H. Probate
Records 7-54, Deeds 20-440, also 7-79, 10-51, 13-102 and
1 3- 10 1.) A more genealogical account of the Walford and
allied families may be found in the Boston Transcript of
Sept. 30, 1907. The present article aims more to give
locations.

Thomas Walford left the bulk of his estate, 164 acres,
in the care of Henry Sherburne and Richard Tucker as
trustees for his grandsons, Thomas and Jeremiah Walford.
Thomas died soon after coming of age. Then came litiga-
tion and a long period of divided and disputed ownership.
In 1697 the plantation was bought by Matthew Nelson,
ancestor of the Nelsons of Exeter, Gilmanton and Barn-
stead, as well as many in Portsmouth. He was evidently a
man of ability. He started as an apprentice but left at his
death in 17 13 an estate of about a thousand pounds. His
"manor house" is mentioned May 23, 1740 (62-210) as still
standing. It was evidently on or near the site of the house
marked "J Sides" in the Atlas of 1891. He was succeeded
on the farm by his sons, Matthew, Joseph and William, and
by his son-in-law, Nathaniel Tuckerman, who lived at the
corner of Elwyn road and Greenleaf avenue. I have many
notes on the Nelson family.

The brothers, Henry and John Sherburne, were lead-
ing men of their times. As they have been well written
up by others, I will pass them briefly. They were exten-
sive land owners. Henry, born about 161 1, died 1680, was
inn-keeper and maintained a ferry across Little Harbor.
This ferry was ordered by the court in 1643. A deed of
January 29, i6jJ-% (3-145) shows him living on land south
of the creek, bounded easterly on the waters of Little Har-
bor. That is where the tything men's list seems to place
him. His daughter Mary married Richard Sloper. He

■&

PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK 253

was a resident before 1657 and had seventy-eight acres in
the land allotment of 1660. He had a farm of one hundred
and fifty acres next east of the Peverly farm on the south
side of the creek. He died in 1712. Brewster gives some
account of this family.

Elizabeth, another daughter of 5 Henry Sherburne, mar-
ried, first, Tobias Langdon ; second, April 11, 1667, Tobias
Lear, who died in 1681, she surviving him. Tobias Lang-
don was a resident before 1657 and had thirty-eight acres
allotted him in 1660. The Langdons and Lears are noted
families. Their land lay next east of the Sloper farm and
is now separated from it by the LaFayette road. Ports-
mouth records of July 18, 1682, show that Mrs. Lear's
farm was bounded easterly by that of Joseph Walker.

John Sherburne, brother of Henry, owned the land at
the Plains next beyond the Westbrooks, January 28, 166 1,
(3-92) he deeded a tract twenty-five rods wide to John
Brewster. Here was the original Brewster homestead,
"Portsmouth Historic and Picturesque," page 60, gives views
and an account of this region. John Brewster left an only
son John, whose son Samuel succeeded him on the home-
stead. Other sons, Joshua, inn-keeper, Joseph, shop-
keeper, and John, tailor, lived in the vicinity.

John Sherburne was succeeded at the Plains by son
John, he by his son John, and he by his son Nathaniel,
who was ancestor of the Epsom Sherburnes. A condensed
Sherburne genealogy prepared by the late E. R. Sherburne
of Boston, is to be found in Volumes 58 and 59 of the New
England Historical and Genealogical Register. He left a
completed manuscript Sherburne history, publication of
which has been promised.

At the end of the Middle road, and probably account-
ing for its location, was Lane's sawmill. I am not aware
that the location of this has before been given in print.
For its discovery I am indebted to T. M. Jackson, Esq.,
Brooklyn, N. Y., as well as for much else in this article.

April 15, 165 1, (273b) John Moses deeded Ambrose

254 PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK

Lane "the little point of land adjoining to his sawmill lying
nearest on the southeast of said mill." This "point of
land" has been identified as "Moses Island" and remains
of the dam have been discerned at low water. The "island"
is peninsular or island according to the state of the tide, and
two hundred fifty years ago may have been more a point
of land, or rock, than an island.

It is well understood by geologists that the New Eng-
land coast has settled in recent geologic time and that the
present estuaries and harbors are drowned valleys. Parsons'
History of Rye has an impressive picture of stumps of
trees in the sand of the seashore where trees could not
now grow. From measurements made at the Charlestown
Navy Yard a few years ago it was thought to be deter-
mined that the coast at that point had settled nine inches
in seventy-five years. With an average of two and one-half
feet less water at Moses Island its insular character would
pretty much disappear.

The mill was deeded March 22, 1649, (Suffolk Deeds
1-137) by Sampson Lane to Ambrose Lane, described as
"one sawmill now in building at Sagamore Creek." It was
not very successful. In 1653 lr) a petition by the inhabi-
tants to the Massachusetts General Court (Provincial Pa-
pers 1-208) they say that Portsmouth has only one sawmill,
"not yet perfected nor like to be." In 1655 Ambrose Lane
had left the place and Richard Tucker was settling up his
business. The dam is mentioned in a deed of January 25,
1722, (13-10.)

The Moses house, one hundred twenty-five years old,
the third on the site, stands near the south shore opposite
the Middle road. John Moses with wife Alice was living
here in 1648 (1-56.) He was a large land owner and of
considerable prominence as a citizen. He lived to old age
and was succeeded on the place by his son Aaron, and he
by his son James. The farm was bounded on the west by
that of Henry Beck. Next west of Beck's was Joseph
Walker's, which extended back from the creek more than

PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK 255

one hundred and seventy rods and was bounded westerly
on the Lear farm (Portsmouth Records July iS, 1682.)
Adjoining the Moses farm, and probably near the cove to
the east, was in 1668 the home of Thomas Creber, seaman,
a son-in-law of John Moses, who had given him twelve
acres of land. This fell to Creber's only daughter, Alice,
who married Richard Shortridge, third of the name.
December 27, 1725, she, a widow, with her son Richard
Shortridge, deeded the land back to James Moses (14-41 1.)
James sold his brother Josiah, December 10, 1726, (19-86)
three acres on the cove, which he two years later sold
(17-8,) with his house, to John Tucker. This, with other
land, was held by the Tucker family till recently.

Joseph Walker, who had married John Moses's daugh-
ter Elizabeth, was likewise complimented by his father-in-
law with a gift of land, — in this case salt marsh, which was
a favorite kind of wedding present. The deed, March 5,
1664, (3-5 5a) locates Walker's house at the head of a branch
creek to the southwest. He married, second, Hannah
Philbrick, born September 26, 165 1. She survived him
and married, second, John Seavey, son of William first.
Joseph Walker had a son George, who was a citizen of
prominence.

Ferdinando Huff, perhaps another son-in-law of John
Moses, in 1764 (-55a) owned land adjoining John Moses
and Thomas Creber. He was born by deposition about
1640, his wife Mary about 1645. In 168 1 they were living
in a house of John Sherburne's (probably son of Henry)
and boarding Henry Sherburne's deaf and dumb daughter
Rebecca.

Sylvanus Scott, a weaver, bought of his wife's brother,
James Moses, about 1633, two acres on the Elwyn road
next the Beck farm, and lived there some twenty years.
His son Sylvanus sold the place to Joseph Tucker, who
occupied it from 1673.

The two volumes of Moses genealogy by Zebina Moses
give a good account of the family. They fail to mention

256 PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK

a Samuel'Moses who deposed in 1670 aged thirty, and a
Joseph Moses, whose new house by the waterside is referred
to in 1666 (3-23a.)

Henry Beck came from London in 1635 at the age of
eighteen. He was taxed in Dover in 1648 ; was of Ports-
mouth before 1657 ; was allotted sixty acres in 1660 ; was
at the creek as early as 1664. He lived there to old age
and was succeeded on the place by his son Thomas, who
died November 7, 1734, aged seventy years. The house
stood on a bluff near the Moses house, a decidedly pict-
uresque spot, affording a view up and down the creek. A
garrison house was maintained there. The farm remained
in the family nearly two hundred years.

I have but fragmentary information of land occupancy
farther down the creek. James Randall, carpenter, bought
July 20, 1668, (3-30) a dwelling house on Little Harbor
and a tract of land reaching from the house to the sandy
beach, about a mile and a half. The Randalls became
numerous in that vicinity.

George Wallis, "sometimes of Newfoundland," bought
of James and Mary Johnson of Little Harbor November 6,
1660 (2 -45a) land and buildings at Little Harbor south of
the creek. Johnson and Wallis were there before 1657
and had jointly an allotment of 112 acres in 1660. George
Wallis, Jr., and William succeeded to their father's estate
in 1686 (4-43a) and held it for about forty years. George,
Jr., left only daughters and an idiot son Caleb.
Descendants of William have been numerous in Rye,
Epsom and Northwood, and the Wallaces of Greenland
probably descended from him. Some account of them may
be found in the Boston Transcript of June 10, 1907.

William Seavey settled very early at Little Harbor, it
is supposed by Seavey's creek. He had sons, William,
born 1640, John and Stephen. See History of Rye. Most
likely the earliest settlers had a grist mill on Seavey's creek

(Continued on page 285.)

»*,

^>. * V*

••V

■ 3ij3j

-4-

£^

1 ■ v

Drawn by Howard Pyle

THE CAPTAIN'S WELL

"He would drink and rest, and go home to tell
That God's best gift is the wayside well! "

Ctamfcles in t©fjittier=llanb

By Martin W. Hoyt

'O him who enjoys reading from the great book of
nature an occasional chapter on the geological
history of this little planet of ours, East Haver-
hill offers a field filled to the brim with features of interest.
First of all he will be struck by the appearance of the in-
numerable "drumlins" all around him, with their smoothed
and rounded sides and oft-times oval summits, rising from
a few to frequently many feet above the general level of
the country. They are smooth and grass-grown to their
very tops, to the casual observer appearing as if rocks were
a nearly unknown quantity in their make-up. But let one
chance to find where some excavation or cut has been made
into one of them, he will at once discover that they are but
a mere medley of worn, rounded, and striated rocks thrown
together in a promiscuous fashion, and imbedded in earth
which is nothing more, after all, than the remains of thor-
oughly disintegrated rock which has gradually accumulated
over and around them during the untold ages that have
elapsed since they were deposited in their present situa-
tions. Much of eastern Massachusetts is noted for the
great quantities of drift scattered broadcast over its surface
during that distant geological epoch denominated as the
glacial age.

Lift but a spadeful of earth from almost any spot be-
side the highway and one finds it full of these rounded and
water-worn rocks, eloquent witnesses of that far-away time
when the great ice plow of the north forced its way down
across New England, turning up and displacing the earth
for hundreds of feet in depth, and sometimes to the very un-
derlying bed-rock, pushing before it and grinding beneath

257

258 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

its mighty mass, huge accumulations of detritus, borne
along from the higher latitudes of the continent.

Again we may find high banks of finest sand, it may
be of the purest white, or it may be of varied colors, with
an occasional stratum of gravel, or possibly a layer of small
pebbles, sorted and placed as if by some designing hand —
all showing the agency of water in motion or water at rest
in their arrangement. There is scarcely ever an angular
fragment among these stones, large or small, but all are
well-worn and rounded by their long and rough journey
from the northern clime.

From the summit of one of the highest of these drum-
lins, known as Job's Hill, one may distinguish the moun-
tain peaks of northern Rockingham county, N. H., particu-
larly of Pawtuckaway in Nottingham.

When the great glacier came down in the ice age and
made of New England a veritable Greenland, with its thous-
ands of feet of ice-cap over the entire section, it nearly ob-
literated all the old surface features of the land, and left it
but a wild waste of rocky detritus, as it, after many ages,
slowly wasted away under the influence of a returning
warmer climate. The beds of former lakes had been filled
up, and new ones chiseled out in other places. The courses
of streams were obstructed and often completely obliter-
ated, and as the ice gradually turned again to water and
the water sought its way to the sea, it was compelled to
sweep clear the obstructions from the former river beds or
to seek new channels elsewhere.

Thus it was that the Merrimack, whose course previ-
ous to the ice age seems to have been southward along the
site of the old Boston and Lowell canal, found it much
easier to find a new road to the sea by turning eastward
from Lowell, than to remove the accumulations from its
old-time bed.

All the little lakes of this section are simply hollows
dug out by the moving ice, which filled up as the glacier
turned into water again. Lake Kenoza, the most beautiful

RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND 259

of them all, has such an origin. In traveling from Haver-
hill city to Merrimac on the Haverhill and Amesbury Street
R. R., one rounds a small portion of its shore and catches
a brief glimpse of a charming picture. The clear waters of
the lake, together with the high drumlins at its southern
bank densely wooded to their summits with dark-hued
evergreens, offer a tempting morsel to the artist's pencil.
Kenoza, too, was a cherished spot to Whittier. Here,
as a "barefoot boy," he lured the pickerel from his haunts
to his fate, and beneath the trees lining its shore he gath-
ered the glossy brown nuts of autumn-time. Listen to
what he says of the little sheet:

"Kenoza! o'er no sweeter lake

Shall morning break or noon-cloud sail,
No fairer face than thine shall take
The sunset's golden veil.

Long be it ere the tide of trade

Shall break with harsh-resounding din
The quiet of thy banks of shade,

And hills that fold thee in.

Still let thy woodlands hide the hare,

The shy loon sound his trumpet-note ;
Wing-weary from his fields of air,

The wild goose on thee float.

Thy peace rebuke our feverish stir,

Thy beauty our deforming strife ;
Thy woods and waters minister

The healing of their life.''

— Kenoza Lake

The laws of the city now protect this lake from con-
tamination, and it will always be kept as Whittier loved it.

All through his busy life Whittier seems to have kept
warm an affectionate remembrance of the delights of his
earlier years. He often speaks of the halcyon, golden days
of his boyhood.

"Crowding years in one brief moon,
When all things I heard or saw,
Me. their master, waited for."

260 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

Oftentimes there is felt an undertone of regret that these
days have all passed by never to return.

"O for boyhood's painless play,
Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
Health that mocks the doctor's rules,
Knowledge never learned of schools !

******

O for festal dainties spread,
Like my bowl of milk and bread, —
Pewter spoon and bowl of wood,
On the door-stone, gray and rude!
O'er me, like a regal tent,
Cloudy-ribbed, the sunset bent,
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold,
Looped in many a wind-swung fold;
While for music came the play
Of the pied frogs' orchestra;
And, to light the noisy choir,
Lit the fly his lamp of fire."

— The Barefoot Boy,

Human nature is pretty much the same the world over,
and all of us who are hastening on to the "sere and yellow
leaf" of life's autumn are capable of looking back upon
fondly-remembered days, and of realizing the tenderness
with which the poet must have struck his lyre as he here
and there touches upon the themes connected with bygone
and youthful years. Whittier's work is fairly crowded with
little pictures of rural life that come easily home to each
one of us who has been so fortunate as to pass his youth
amid country scenes in close contact with "old mother na-
ture."

Hardly is it possible to open to a descriptive poem of
his without being confronted by some familiar token of
one's boyhood period. He lures us on, stanza by stanza,
with mention of whispering winds and murmuring stream-
lets, with tossing branches of trees and fern-clad and mossy
dells, until we fairly forget ourselves for a time, and be-
come boys and girls again happily roaming once more the
gladsome country side.

RAMBLES IN WHITTIEK-LAND 261

Now, perhaps, he says to us:

With the summer sunshine falling

On thy heated brow,
Listen, while all else is still,
To the brooklet from the hill.

Wild and sweet the flowers are blowing

By that streamlet's side,
And a greener verdure showing

Where its waters glide, —
Down the hill-slope murmuring on,
Over root and mossy stone.

Where yon oak his broad arms flingeth

O'er the sloping hill,
Beautiful and freshly springeth

That soft-flowing rill,
Through its dark roots wreathed and bare,
Gushing up to sun and air.

Brighter waters sparkled never

In that magic well,
Of whose gift of life forever

Ancient legends tell, —
In the lonely desert wasted,
And by mortal lip untasted.

■The Fountain.

Again it is a harvest scene:

"The summer grains were harvested; the stubble field lay dry,
Where June winds rolled, in light and shade, the pale green waves of rye,
But still, on gentle hill-slopes, in valleys fringed with wood,
Ungathered, bleaching in the sun. the heavy corn crop stood.
Bent low, by autumn's wind and rain, through husks that, dry and sere,
Unfolded from their ripened charge, shone out the yellow ear;
Beneath, the turnip lay concealed, in many a verdant fold,
And glistening in the slanting light the pumpkin's sphere of gold."

And this takes us to "The Pumpkin," that exquisite
bit dear to the heart of every boy who ever read it:

"O, — fruit loved of boyhood ! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling'
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within !

262 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune.

Our chair a broad pumpkin, — our lantern the moon,

Telling tales of the fairy who traveled like steam,

In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team."

And close upon it comes the old-fashioned husking
party of note among our grandfathers.

"From many a brown old farm-house, and hamlet without name,
Their milking and their home-tasks done, the merry huskers came.
Swung o'er the heaped-up harvest, from pitch-forks in the mow,
Shone dimly down the lanterns on the pleasant scene below ;
The growing pile of husks behind, the golden ears before,
And laughing eyes and busy hands and brown cheeks glimmering o'er.

Half hidden in a quiet nook, serene of look and heart,

Talking their old times over, the eld men sat apart ;

While, up and down the unhusked pile, or nestling in its shade,

At hide-and-seek, with laugh and shout, the happy children played."

Reader, do you not recognize these pictures? have
you not lived these scenes of happy days? If not you have
missed much of life's keenest enjoyment. Who of us
would willingly forget the time when we, too, fashioned the
rude Jack o' Lantern from the pumpkin's golden globe, and
danced in childish glee adown the long pile of unstripped
ears waiting for the huskers, while lanterns suspended on
pitchfork handles cast their uncertain light over the scene?

Whittier was a dreamer. He, as a boy, was always
glad when it came his turn to stay at home from "First
Day" services at Amesbury, so that he could wander away
to the summit of some near-by hill, and there, reclining in
the shade of a towering forest tree, spend the hours in
quiet thought. Nothing was more delightful to him than
to lie beside the little brook running past the old homestead
and listen to its musical ripple. Many an allusion has he
made to this stream so dear to his boyhood.

"Laughed the brook for my delight
Through the day and through the night,
Whispering at the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fail."

RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND 263

The following picture from "Snow-Bound," is one
which none of us who are count ry-bred, and upon whose
locks lie the drifted snows of sixty and odd years, can fail
to recognize.

"Within our beds awhile we heard
The wind that round the gables roared,
With now and then a ruder shock,
Which made our very bedsteads rock.

We heard the loosened clapboards tost,
The board-nails snapping in the frost;
And on us, through the unplastered wall,
Felt the light sifted snow-flakes fall."

One could not well take leave of this period of the
poet's life without some mention of the old schoolhouse
wherein his schooldays, necessarily few, were mostly spent.
This building, unfortunately, no longer exists, but its site
is now marked by a tablet for the better guidance of those
who would desire to visit the spot, associated as it is with
a poem that will be read as long as the English tongue
shall endure. One of America's most distinguished liter-
ary persons has pronounced it "the finest school poem ever
written in the English language." It was written nearly
half a century after the incident which inspired it occurred.
To quote from it is impossible; it must be given entire, for
every stanza, line, and word, even, is essential to the whole.
One should be New England born, and familiar with the
"little brown schoolhouse" of the last century for the proper
appreciation of this, poem. It is a living, moving scene,
which no artist with brush or pencil could produce.

"IN SCHOOL DAYS"

"Still sits the schoolhouse by the road,
A ragged beggar sunning;
Round it still the sumachs grow,
And blackberry vines are running.

Within, the master's desk is seen.

Deep-scarred by raps official ;
The warping floor, the battered seats,

The jack-knife's carved initial;

264 RAMBLES IN WHITTIER-LAND

The charcoal frescoes on the wall ;

The door's worn sill, betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,

Went storming out to playing.

Long years ago a winter sun
Shone over it at setting ;

Lit up its western window-panes,
And low eaves' icy fretting.

It touched the tangled golden curls r
And brown eyes full of grieving,

Of one who still her steps delay'd
When all the school were leaving.

For near her stood the little boy
Her childish favor singled,

His cap pull'd low upon a face

Where pride and shame were mingled.

Pushing with restless feet the snow
To right and left, he linger'd

As restlessly her tiny hands

The blue-check'd apron finger'd.

He saw her lift her eyes, he felt
The soft hand's light caressing.

And heard the trembling of her voice,
As if a fault confessing.

•I'm sorry that I spelt the word ;

I hate to go above you:
Because, — ' the brown eyes lower fell, —

'Because, you see, I love you.'

Still memory to a grey-hair'd man
That sweet child-face is showing.

Dear girl! the grasses on her grave
Have forty years been growing.

He lives to learn, in life's hard school,
How few who pass above him

Lament their triumph and his loss,
Like her, because they love him."

(To be Continued)

' ' • ..iStoir--'- —~ '

3n ^tage=€oact) l^apsi

By George Waldo Browne

III

Early Mail Routes

y^fcs^HE enterprise of Bartholomew Stavers seems to
' O^ have met with "suitable encouragement," from
^^ the first, for it not only proved a paying venture
for him, but it also added to the business of his brothers,
who kept "The Earl of Halifax," one of the most noted
inns of that day. The line also marked a decided advance
in the methods of travel, and other lines in New Hamp-
shire, as well as elsewhere, began to seek the patronage of
the traveling public. It seems to have dawned upon the
public mind that it had more occasion to travel than it had
ever dreamed of before the opportunity had come its way.
In 1763 Mr. Stavers in one of his announcements styled
his carriage "The Flying Stage Coach." This would seem
to indicate that even in those sedate days the matter of
time spent upon the road was taken into serious considera-
tion. He could now convey six persons inside, and he did
not start until Tuesday morning, returning Saturday. The
inn of John Stavers, his brother, was still the point of de-
parture in Portsmouth.

The speed made by the Stavers coach was the pride of
the owner, and it was his boast that his "express" actually
performed the journey between his inn and Boston in a lit-
tle over twenty-four hours, the exact time being from
eleven o'clock in the morning to two of the following day
in the afternoon, "Good entertainment was amply pro-
vided while on the route." Then the passengers were as-
sured of "hospitable treatment at the end of their journey

265

266 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

when he turned them over to the care of his brother John.
Truth told, John seemed to have fared even better than the
other, by the conduct of "The Stage Chair," for in 1765 we
learn that he removed from his hostelry on Queen street to
more commodious quarters and into a building that soon
became famous through its associations. The old sign
"Earl of Halifax" was again called into requisition. In the
upper story of this historic building, completed in 1770,
the St. John's lodge of Masons held their meetings for sev-
eral years, and the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire also
met here.

Dame Stavers "in her furbelows" stood in the doorway
of this inn as she looked with righteous disdain upon poor
but proud Martha Hilton and her stockingless feet, to ex-
claim with a toss of her head :

"Oh, Martha Hilton ! fie ! how dare you go
About the town half dressed and looking so!"

With righteous indignation equaling the other's cut-
ting scorn, the proud girl retorted that she would live to
ride in her own chariot, a boast that she could not have felt
likely to ever be realized as it was on her wedding day with
Governor Benning Wentworth, and she became the leading
lady in the colony and mistress of

•A Great House looking out to sea,

A goodly place, where it was good to be."

But the checkered history of Stavers, if told complete,
would fill a volume, and not all of it would be as serene as
this pretty love romance. For a time its owner fell under
the bann of Tory sympathy and was compelled to escape
by flight, only to be captured and thrown into Exeter jail-
Fortunately the very one he had injured most obtained his
release, and promising better behavior in the future he was
allowed his freedom. The story of the Loyalist during
those trying times has been but a half-told tale. Its tel-
ling does not come within the scope of this article, though
we hope at some other opportunity to try our hand at it.

EARLY MAIL ROUTES 267

One hundred years ago the fastest travel in the world
was on the Great North Road, England, when the York mail
coach performed its long journey at the tremendous rate
of ninety miles a day! This was done by the frequent
change of horses, and at the amazement of the public, many
of the more ignorant persons predicting dire calamity to the
drivers and those who dared to patronize the line.

Benjamin Franklin has told us that he spent four days
in making the trip from Philadelphia to New York by stage
coach, and that he whiled away his time en route by knit-
ting stockings and listening to the stories of the jocose
driver! Two stage coaches with four horses each sufficed
for the passenger traffic between Boston and New York,
and in the winter two weeks were consumed in making the
round trip.

At first great opposition was manifested against any of
the wagons or coaches designed to carry the mail taking on
any other business, either in passenger traffic or the carry-
ing of packages. This was first attempted in New Jersey
under Jefferson's administration, when four men were given
the privilege of running a mail coach with four seats on top
to carry passengers. Then when congress tried to extend
this privilege so as to allow all mail coaches the like favor
a great hue and cry arose, and the project failed at that
time. Later it passed, and the custom became general.

It was not until 1792, when Thomas Jefferson was
Secretary of State that the feasibility of sending mail one
hundred miles a day was considered. The number of let-
ters in 1790 was less than 300,000 a year and the distance,
counting each trip, about 350,000 miles. , It would seem
that during those days the office of postmaster was not
altogether desirable, as witness the complaint of a Mr.
Childs at Falmouth in 1773, who declares "that the office
is of no advantage to him. Nay, it is a loss ; he cannot
withstand the earnest solicitations of indigent people, so he
delivers their letters and receives no payment. Every per-
son freely enters his home, looking for a letter or paper

268 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

whether it is postday or not ; he cannot afford to set aside
an apartment in his house for an office, and is continually
disturbed in his family."

It was not until 1786 that the mail was first carried in
coaches from Portsmouth to the South. A writer remark-
ing upon the time occupied in delivering mail matter aptly
says : "In the mountains of New Hampshire, in the hill
country of Pennsylvania, in the rice swamps of Georgia
and the Carolinas, letters were longer in reaching their
destination than they are now in reaching Pekin, China.
Letters sent out from the principal offices spent five weeks
in passing a distance now traversed in as many hours." In
comparison to the cases cited, in remote regions it often
happened that the post rider was a man of advanced years,
who, as his jaded beast jogged along the lonesome stretches
of country road, whiled away his time in knitting woolen
mittens and stockings. Letters were not infrequently held
at the office for want of the fees needed to pay for their
transportation, or at the other end waiting for weeks to
have the person to whom they were addressed obtain the
money necessary to secure them. There was absolutely
no protection over mail matter in transportation, and it
was frequently claimed, with probably good reasons, that
the rider opened and read them at his leisure. It was this
reason which led many public and business men to corre-
spond in cipher. At their destination letters fared no bet-
ter. Post officers were usually kept in taverns or stores,
where some corner became the receptable for the missives,
and hither persons looking for letters were wont to turn
and rummage through the collection in the hope of finding
there some communication from friend or relative, or it
might be a business proposition.

In marked opposition to the free and impartial distribu-
tion of newspapers at the present time, little if any mail of
this kind was transmitted between the different sections of
the country in those days. Boston got a few papers from
New York and Philadelphia, and they knew little of each

'■■

EARLY MAIL ROUTES 269

other. While the post carriers had to bear much of the
blame for this, it was mainly due to the influences in the
larger offices. Franklin, during his occupancy of the office,
managed to improve this condition, though as late as 1784
only a few papers were taken with the letters, and these
only after persistent appeals to the postmasters.

The franking privilege seems to have originated No-
vember 8, 1775, when congress resolved that letters to and
from delegates of the united colonies should be carried free
of postage. A year later letters to and from private sold-
iers were accorded the same immunity.

Newspapers at last became mailable matter, but it was
some time before books and magazines were received by
the postmaster general ; and it was not until i860 that
other than written and printed matter was sent by post!
In 1855 prepayment of postage became obligatory.

The increase in the postal receipts is somewhat re-
markable. In 1776 there were only twenty-eight post offi-
ces in the country, while to-day there are 68,403. The
number of pieces carried in 1794 was under two millions ;
now it it above 5,000,000,000.

In 1798 the rates of postage established by congress
fixed the sums as follows, according to distance : Single
letters, 30 miles, six cents; 60 miles eight cents; 100 miles
ten cents ; 150 miles twelve and one-half cents ; 200 miles
fifteen cents ; 250 miles seventeen cents ; 450 miles twenty-
two cents; over 450 miles twenty-five cents. Double let-
ters were double these rates, while triple letters were
charged three times as much. Packets weighing one ounce
or more were sent at the rate of twenty-four cents an ounce.

Two years later, 1800, these rates were raised some-
what. Then it cost eight cents to take a letter forty miles
or less ; not over 90 miles ten cents ; not over 500 miles
twenty cents ; two pieces of paper, double rates ; three
pieces of paper, triple rates ; four pieces of paper, weighing
one ounce, four rates.

Another raise in the cost was made in 1821, and re
affirmed in 1830, making the charges six cents for 30 miles ;-

270 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

ten cents for So miles; twelve and one-half cents for 150
miles; eighteen and one-half cents for 250 miles; twenty-
five cents for 400 miles and over.

Before 1760, at least two roads styled post-roads had
been opened between Boston and Hartford and New Haven.
In 1764, the "Upper Post Road" was advertised. It was
162 miles in length. The Middle Road followed in 1769.

But older than either of these was u The Lower Road,"
opened or traveled as early as 1737, and advertised as the
only road to New Haven and thence to New York. It
was over this road that Franklin rode in his chaise, setting
up mile-stones. This road was 278 miles in length.

Thus in 1768 New Haven was reached from Boston by
three roads, though there was only one from thence to New
York.

The Revolution served to check the increase of roads
for a decade, but after that the growth was more rapid
than ever, though it was not until October 20, 1783, that
the pioneer of stage-coaching, Capt. Levi Pease, a black-
smith by trade, and a native of Enfield, Conn., gave a new
impetus to the opening of roads and the distribution of
mail matter.

Something of the estimation in which the railroads
were held in public opinion is illustrated by the account of
a certain Mr. Ebenezer Stowell Greer, who lived on the line
of the Boston and Albany road before it had been com-
pleted to Worcester. It seems that work had been de-
layed on account of the lack of iron for the rails. Believe-
ing that not enough iron could be procured to finish laying
the tracks, and the cars having begun to run as far as they
could go, Mr. Greer was anxious to have his daughter take
a ride upon the strange vehicle. As she could not come
back that night by rail her brother was to drive with their
family horse to Grafton and bring her home. The team
started about the same time as the train, but the latter
reached Grafton twenty minutes ahead of the horse. Mr.
Greer was so disgusted with what he considered the slow-

EARLY MAIL ROUTES 271

ness of the animal that he would have sold it at once had
not his family dissuaded him from doing so.*

In the winter season it was not uncommon for a driver
who carried the mail to be compelled to abandon his team
and passengers, if he had such, and push on to his destina-
tion on snow-shoes, with the mail pouch flung over his
shoulders. Or, it might be, the package too heavy for this,
he would load it upon a hand sled and thus manage to de-
deliver it in season.

Many stirring stories of stage-coaching days are told
of narrow escapes from serious results, both to driver and
passengers.

Stage riding in that way in the pioneer days of travel
must have been no enviable undertaking, and, naturally,
few attempted lengthy journeys unless business or stern
necessity compelled them. Not only were the roads rough
and unfinished, but the vehicles were rude in the extreme.
One of the most pretentious of these stage coaches is thus
described by a young Englishman, Thomas Twining, visit-
ing this country in 1795 :

"The stage-wagon is a long car with four benches.
Three of these in the interior held nine passengers. A
tenth passenger was seated by the side of the driver on the
front bench. A light roof was supported by eight slender
pillars, four on each side. Three large leather curtains

* "The first locomotive steam engine used in New England was put
in motion yesterday on the Worcester Railroad. The experiment we,
learn was entirely satisfactory. — Boston Evening Transcript, March 18,
1834. Regular passenger service was not completed until May 16th.
The same paper quoted above under date of April 4, says : "Crowds of
people were assembled yesterday at the Tremont street terminus of the
Worcester Railroad to witness the operation of the locomotive engine.
We candidly confess that we cannot describe the singular sensation we
experienced, except by comparing it to that which one feels when antici-
pation is fulfilled and hope realized. We note it as marking the accom-
plishment of one of the mighty projects of the age, and the mind, casting
its eye backwards upon the past, as it was borne irresistibly onward, lost
itself in contemplation of the probable future." — Editor.

272 IN STAGE-COACH DAYS

suspended to the roof, one on each side and the third be-
hind, were rolled up or lowered at the pleasure of the pas-
sengers. There was no place nor space for luggage, each
person being expected to stow his things as he could under
his seat or legs. The entrance was in front over the driv-
er's bench. Of course the three passengers on the back
seat were obliged to crawl across the other benches. There
were no backs to the benches for support and relief to us
during a rough and fatiguing journey over a newly and ill-
made road."

Of course the results of a ride of twenty miles in an
old-fashioned stage coach bolstered up on thoroughbraces
and drawn by four or six horses largely depended upon the
make-up of the passenger. The driver might be as merry
as Joe Miller, and the coach as easy of transportation as
the rubber-tired, steel-springed buggy of to-day, still one
would find much to worry over and to complain of, as wit-
ness the following account left us by a gentleman whom
we believe to have been of English extraction, and whose
trip was made in one of the coaches of our northern coun-
try:

"I had an uncomfortable seat in the hind part of the
wagon upon the mail bag and other goods. I might indeed
have sat in fr^nt along with the driver, but my legs would
have been cramped between a large chest and the fore part
of the wagon. Of two evils I chose the least ; but I shall
never forget the shaking, jolting, jumbling and tossing,
which I experienced over this disagreeable road, up and
down steep hills which obliged us to alight, (for we had
only two poor jaded horses to draw us) and fag through the
sand and dust exposed to a burning sun. When we got
into our delectable vehicle again, our situation was just as
bad ; for the road in many parts was continually obstructed
by large stones ; stumps of trees, and fallen timber ; deep
ruts and holes, over which, to use an American phrase, we
were 'waggon'd' most unmercifully."

( To be Continued)

CHARACTEK SKETCHES

No. XII
THE VIKING

* .-■

■\

•

■ .

.' .

■•-■ . ■'- i

. . .^ 1$

••*->■•■■ ' >* I ^ - •■ *• /

f ••;

■ ■

From Rogers' Statuary

THK VIKING

Character Sketches

XII
"The Viking"

IpPipl|pHE HISTORY of the world does not offer a
IJKtSIJj character to parallel the Viking. A patriot and
il^^iftrt a hero, a home-maker and a freeman, he was
'QJ ^t^Z& Sj yet a tryant and a terror : far too frequently a
stranger to mercy. He fought for his god and was a pagan
of the most paganic type. He acknowledged a king, yet
dared to defy him when the occasion seemed to demand it.
Once had the voice of the Christian spirit been heard along
the rocky shores of his native land, but he had turned a deaf
ear to it. In frail barks, little fitted for long sea voyages, these
hardy seamen crossed the ocean many times, and, it is claimed,
even circumnavigated the globe. At any rate their name was
a terror from the frozen north to the seven hills of Rome.
Dragon ships, with grinning heads, clave their way through
the waters of the deep, urged on by stalwart oarsmen
concealed behind their shields hung around the bulwarks of
the vessel. When not too far out at sea these strange-look-
ing galleys were followed by flocks of ravens, which birds
became the "war-wagers" used for their banners. Usually
among the crew there was some "wise man" who could
speak in the language of the ravens and talk with them pres-
aging the coming conflict. Or, higher than flew the ravens,
floated through the space a flock of wild swans, whose pres-
ence was hailed by these kings of the sea as the warlike shield
of Odin, the Norns who wove the web of victory and defeat.
At length there came in the tenth century tidings of the
New Religion. Upheld by their leaders, this doctrine swept
like a whirlwind over Norway, and missionaries were then
sent to that lonely island in the Northern Sea, whither some
of the bravest of the Vikings had fled from their homeland,

much as the Pilgrims did seven hundred years later, to worship
their gods. Eric the Red, the staunchest Viking that ever
lived, a patriarch nearly a hundred years old. dwelt here in
Iceland among his kindred Surely the old would not yield to
the new where Eric held domain. Like true freemen these
doughty warriors met in open council by the black, yawning
rampart of the valley hemmed in by the mountains, to settle
the mooted question whether Christ should supplant Odin ;
whether old beliefs should be swept away for this new faith.
That meeting was one of the most dramatic moments in the
history of man. Defiantly against the Christians stood the
priests of the old faith, and their fierce, white-haired follow-
ers In the midst of the debate a peal of subterranean thun-
der rolled underfoot. Unperturbed by this, one of the chanv
pions of Odin leaped to his feet and cried : "Thor is angry at
this treason." "With whom was he angry when he rent
these rocks and burned them?" demanded one of the Chris-
tians, pointing to the volcanic relics about them. The swift
question decided the matter, and Christianity was accepted by
the great majority. No more remarkable testimony to the
efficiency of self-government can be found ; nor a grander
refusal of the coming truth than that displayed by the patri-
arch of Vikings, Eric, who chose to die in the old belief rather
than the new, the last of his heroic race.

<Ql\)z Propfjet of tfje Pines

By Laconica

N a slight eminence of land near the headwaters of
the Pascataqua River stand three pines. Seen
when the sun's shafts of silver strike aslant their
green clad figures a beautiful halo crowns the crests of the
loftiest ones. And as this spirit light deepens, taking on
the hues of emerald and violet and the yet deeper tints com-
ing from the dusky azure overhead, lo! a mysterious trans-
formation takes place, when the third and smallest tree lifts
its drooping arms and lays them across the bosoms of its
mates, until a perfect cross is made.

Unable to realize that he is gazing on less than what
his vision discloses, it requires no grievous stretch of the
imagination of the beholder to catch in the whisperings of
the pines, as the autumn wind gives them speech, this tale
which the Prophet of the Pines has told and retold many
times since the dusky brotherhood stole away from the sa-
cred spot in the twilight of long ago.

The maple was aflame with the gorgeous plumes of the
sunset and the hazel was bending under the weight of its
harvests treasures for the warriors of the wiidwood, when a
solitary figure burst from out of the solitude of the sur-
rounding forests and paused under the two pines. His
step was heavy like him who has come far, and his breath
told that he had been long a fugitive no less than the
hunted look overspreading his features, which were as white
as the snow that lay on the distant mountains. The
flowing robe of this stranger was darker than the coat of
the pine, he carried two bars crossing each other and shin-
ing with the brightness of the sun's eye.

As he halted, unable to go farther, he pressed this glis-
277

278 THE PROPHET OF THE PINES

tening jewel to his lips, ever and anon, and as he did so a
beautiful light settled on his kindly features. Then, clasp-
ing his hands, still holding the golden crucifix over his
head, he sank upon his knees. His lips moved, though no
sound came forth. He was thus engaged when a band of
shadows stole from out of the forest and surrounded him!

The hunted priest, who had strayed far from his kind-
red, now looked up to behold himself in the midst of his
red enemies. But his face grew no paler, though his lips
moved faster and he lifted the golden cross higher.

With yells that were intended to drive from him his
lingering ray of hope, the red men threw themselves upon
him! And they bound him with stout withewoods, having
first robbed him of the magical cross, and they fastened
him to the bigger pine. Stopping only long enough to
mock him in his distress, the warriors hastened on their
journey to their campfires, leaving him there under the pine
to obey the Great Spirit in his last call.

The poor white father scarce heard the sound of their
retreating steps, he was so bowed with grief. He certainly
did not hear the steps of the Indian princess, whose footfall
gave back no more sound than the falling leaf, as she drew
near the hopeless captive.

She swiftly loosened his withes and stepping back
touched him as she did so on the shoulder. He must have
thought she was an angel from the great sky wigwam of the
Father, for he did not open his lips until she had said:

"Fear not Niamana, the chief's daughter. She has set
the Paleface free. See! his hands are no longer bound, and
here is food for him to eat, that he may speedily go a long
way 'yond the trails of old Ravena, the evil bird," and as
she said these words she gave him pounded maize to eat.

She stood by while he ate like one long hungered, and
he spake kindly to her, saying:

"Good Niamana, you have saved my life. I was weak
and worn with long fighting the terrors of the wilderness,
and they found me an easy victim. In return I would

THE PROPHET OF THE PINES 279

impart to you the great secret of life and show you how you
may not only be saved for this life but for the next."

His words fell sweetly on her ears, and while she lis-
tened to his wonderful story, she believed and she felt her-
self drawn very near to him.

"Fair child of the woods," he said, "go with me that I
may teach you "

Thus far had he got, when the chief and his party
suddenly appeared in the little opening on the hill, he hav-
ing missed Niamana and returned to search for her. In a
moment he understood it all — the freedom of the pale face
captive, Niamana's guilt in freeing him.

Hast seen the fury of the autumn gale? hast seen the
wild desolation the north wind brings from Chocorua's aw-
ful peak? then know something of Ravena's wrath. When
he stamped his foot the earth trembled, and when he
frowned the sky turned black!

"And this is the way Niamana pays her father for all
his care of her, his silent solicitude, his love. Now feel his
anger, which shall be sharper than the arrows of his quiver
and more searching than the storm of winter."

Ordering his warriors to bind the white priest again to
the bigger pine, with his own hands he tied Niamana to the
other growing near by, exclaiming when he had deftly
turned the la«t knot:

"Remain here until another sun rises that you may
know how to obey your father."

Then it was that the white man spake, and his words
awed the red men into silence:

"O chief of a benighted race, beware! There is One,
for thy unmerciful acts against thine own, who will
call thee to account. In yonder setting sun I read thy
doom; in yonder cloud the darkness of thy fate. Thou hast
stolen the twilight away and for thee- "

A deafening crash in the sky drowned the words of the
white priest and as the solemn peal rolled away over the
very hilltops towards the mountains, the chief and his war-
riors fled.

280' THE HERMIT THRUSH

Ravena alone had the courage to look back, and as he
did so he saw with dismay that the white captive held one
hand lifted over his head, as if pointing towards the rising
storm, which had come most unexpectedly. Around the
golden crucifix, which he had stuck in the ground at his
daughter's feet, while he bound her to the pine, and forgot-
ten to take with him, he beheld a bright aureole of light
playing in fantastic shapes.

The storm which raged for two hours or more was the
most severe the oldest of the red men had ever witnessed,
and in the morning, when Ravena dared to return to the
hillock to look for his daughter, lo! she nor the priest were
to be seen! And stranger yet, where he had left the golden
cross a smaller pine than the two which he had previously
seen was standing on the spot, and from that day to this,
at the hour when its red chief had stolen the twilight away,
the three pines make amends for his wrong by giving the
sign of the cross and the sunlight lingers on the hallowed
spot long after it has died from the neighboring hills.

<3H)e permit ^rustfj

By Mary Bailey

There was a sunset and a wooded hill,
There was a summer evening and a hush,

Then clear from out the gold-flecked depths so still,
There came the wondrous soul-song of a thrush.

And I was there to listen. Now the years
Are many since that evening and that song;

Thrushes make music now for other ears,
And other thrushes to that haunt belong.

But my sweet bird sang an immortal note,
The far call of a homesick heart for Heaven,

And, though the time and distance are remote,
Through all the weary waiting years at even

There comes a hush at sunset 'mid the stress,
The rush of labor with its fret and care;

I seem to hear from out the wilderness,

That plaintive bird-song that was like a prayer !

General 3!o£epJj Ctllep

By John Scales, A. B., A. M.

Conclusion of the New York Campaign Against
the Indians

FTER the army had completed the crossing of Lake
Candagua, General Sullivan ordered General Hand
to go with four regiments and capture a town a
mile or more distant. General Hand hesitated and began
to make excuses. He thought it would be a useless waste
of lives; it would be dark before they could reach the vil-
lage; in the dark the enemy would have the advantage on
all sides and could stampede, or completely destroy the at-
tacking force. Colonel Cilley was sitting on his horse lis-
tening to the talk between Sullivan and Hand. He became
impatient at the hesitancy and delay; he straightened him-
self up in his stirrups and exclaimed, in the forceful way he
had of saying things: "General Sullivan! give me leave and
I will take the town with my regiment alone!"

The general looked at the colonel a moment, and then
gave the word, "go!" Colonel Cilley's bugle call was
sounded and the regiment was in battle array for marching,
just at dusk; before the men got halfway there it was so
dark that each soldier was obliged to take hold of his file
leader to keep in line and not get lost; thus they marched
in Indian file until the village was reached. They found
the place deserted; nothing was left for them to fight ex-
cept swarms of mosquitoes, of which it would seem there
were hundreds attacking each man. Under these condi-
tions they encamped for the night, which they spent in
fighting mosquitoes and keeping close watch that the wily
enemy should not return upon them unprepared to defend
themselves. In the early morning they burned everything

281

282 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLET

that was combustible in the village, and returned to the
army, where Colonel Cilley received the thanks of General
Sullivan.

The capital of the Five Nations was at Big Tree; when
Sullivan's army reached there Colonel Cilley and his regi-
ment witnessed the last scene of that war which completely
crushed the power of the Five Nations and the Indians who
had greatly aided the British since the beginning of the
Revolutionary War. The town contained one hundred and
twenty-two houses and wigwams. When all was ready
General Sullivan gave the order to destroy it, in every part;
make so much a desert no Indian could live in it. So, dur-
ing one day, the whole army of more than four thousand
soldiers were busily engaged in gathering corn from the
fields and storing it in the houses. The task was not com-
pleted until about noon of the next day, as the crops were
immense. The soldiers then struck their tents in the vil-
lage, and marched out a short distance and halted on a hill
which overlooked the town, from which they witnessed a
scene unsurpassed in that war of eight years.

Soldiers had been stationed at each house, with torches.
At the firing of a signal gun every house was set on fire,
and all were consumed with the contents, leaving only huge
heaps of roasted corn. Colonel Cilley was accustomed to
say, in after years, that the sight of so many buildings on
fire, the massy clouds of black smoke, the curling pillars of
flame bursting through them, formed the most awful and
sublime spectacle he ever witnessed. Awful as it were, it
was trifling in comparison with the inhuman barbarities
those Indians had inflicted on American citizens during the
preceding years of the war.

The army then commenced their return march to Tioga
Point, where they arrived in a very needy condition on Sep-
tember 30. When they started on the march up through
the Indian country they left the principal part of their
clothing at the fort, by general order; they were allowed to
carry no more than they wore, with the exception of one

GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY 283

spare shirt. The suits consisted of a short rifle frock, vest,
shirt, tow trousers, stockings, shoes and blanket. March-
ing nearly the whole time in the woods, among thick under-
brush, their whole suit became fearfully worn. Many of
the men returned barefooted, and became very footsore.
Thus in rags and tatters they arrived at the fort, having
completed one of the most remarkable campaigns of the
Revolutionary War.

They remained at Tioga Point until October 4, and on
that day marched fourteen miles towards Wyoming (the
modern town of Wilkesbarre). They arrived at that place
October 7, about noon. From there they marched to Eas-
ton where they arrived October 15, and encamped near the
river. There they received the report of the committee
appointed by General Sullivan, (of which Colonel Cilley
was a member), to estimate the quantity of corn destroyed
by the army, that belonged to the Indians. It was com-
puted at one hundred and sixty-five thousand bushels.
Whilst there they were ordered to attend divine service,
under arms, in a large meadow, to return thanks for the
signal success of the expedition, and the unparalleled health
of the troops. A discourse was delivered by the Rev. Ira
Evans of Concord, N. H.

On October 27 Colonel Cilley's regiment commenced
its march towards North River, and on November 25 they
arrived at its south bank and crossed over to the New York
side. Then they kept on their journey, by slow marches,
until they arrived at their winter quarters in Connecticut,
at a place about half way between Danbury and Newton.
They began to build their huts December 3, and finished
the job in about fifteen days, making everything very com-
fortable for the cold winter that followed. They remained
in camp there until April 6, 1780, when they broke camp
and marched for West Point; they remained there until
August 4. It is worthy of note here that Colonel Cilley's
son-in-law, Col. Thomas Bartlett of Nottingham, was there
at West Point at the same time in command of another
New Hampshire regiment.

284 GENERAL JOSEPH CILLEY

Colonel Cilley's regiment left West Point August 4,
and after crossing the river, by short marches each day
they arrived, August 8, at Tappan, Orangetown, where the
whole army encamped and remained there until August 23,
when the army marched clown to Jenerich, N. J., opposite
the upper end of Manhattan Island. September 17, Gen-
eral Washington went on a journey to Hartford, Conn.,
and left the command of the army to Major General Greene.
Three days later General Greene moved the army up the
river to Tappan and they pitched their tents on the old
camping ground.

Five days later, September 25, they were apprised of
General Arnold's plot, and of his escape, and of the cap-
ture of Major Andre. Colonel Cilley with his regiment
left Tappan, with the four brigades, October 6, under com-
mand of General Greene, and marched to Haverstraw. On
October 8 Colonel Cilley encamped his regiment on Con-
stitutional Island, opposite West Point. The Second New
Hampshire regiment also encamped there. October 25,
1780, they crossed the river and marched to Soldiers Fort-
une, where they built their huts and encamped for the win-
ter, but they were called out to the lines many times by
alarms of the enemy, so had a rather wide awake winter of
it without any fighting. The winter was unusually severe,
and the soldiers were often on the point of starvation, and
were for days without meat, and nearly all the time on short
allowance, while most of them had received no pay for
about a year. As for clothing they were often so destitute
that many of them could not do guard duty without bor-
rowing from their comrades, while for shoes they were still
more deficient, and parties who were on fatigue duty for
firewood and forage could often be tracked by the blood
from their bruised feet.

( To be Continued)

PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK 285

( Continued from page 256)

where the road crosses. There is an old deed acknow-
ledged July 6, 1680, from William Seavey to his son Wil-
liam, both of Portsmouth, of a "mill on the side of the creek
the mill stands on." This is rather lacking in definiteness,
but is believed to mean Seavey's creek and probably refers
to more than one mill. A history of the Seavey family is
being prepared by Mrs. A. C. Hall, Stamford, Conn:

John Odiorne, born about 1630, in Portsmouth before
1657, was another settler on the south side. He married,
rather late, Mary Johnson and had sons, Jotham, who died
in 1748, and Deacon John, who lived at Odiorne's Point.
Other early residents on the Rye side were Robert Pur-
rington and Richard Tucker, both prominent men. Tuck-
er died in 1679. Search has failed to find any trace of his
children, though Tuckers afterwards lived in the vicinity.

March 15, 1670, (3-i38a) Robert Lang bought of Rob-
ert Townsend, both fishermen of the Isles of Shoals, a house
and thirteen acres bounded westerly on Middle road eighty
rods, southerly on the creek twenty-six rods, and easterly
on land of Richard Goss. It is not said that Goss was liv-
ing on this land. The tything men's list of 1678 seems to
place him at the mouth of the creek. Robert Lang died
February 16, 161 5-16 leaving sons Stephen and Nathaniel,
who had nine sons and seven daughters. A generation
•later John Lang, mariner, had land near Robert's, on the
west side of the road back from the creek. His wife was
Grace, daughter of William Brooking. They had a large
family and were ancestors of the Langs of Lee and Wake-
field. Robert Goss left two sons, Robert of Greenland,
who had sons Robert and Joseph, and Richard of Rye, who
who had many descendants.

October 5, 1659, (2-33a) Nicholas Rowe sold Richard
Shortridge one-half of a neck of land at the entrance to Saga-
more Creek excepting four acres-previously sold to George
Jones. Shortridge had a son Richard born by deposition

286 PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK

about 163 1, and a daughter that married a John Davis who
had land near by. The Exeter News-Letter of April 6,
1906, had an article on the Shortridge family.

William Berry is said to have been the first settler at
Sandy Beach. He had sons Joseph, John, James and Wil-
liam. February 11, 1673 (14-4560) Joseph and Rachel
Berry sold Samuel Harris of Portsmouth land lying next to
Richard Shortridge. In 1674 (3-io5a) Joseph Berry of
Portsmouth, planter, and wife Rachel sold John Bowman,
"late of Isles of Shoals," fisherman, a dwelling-house "at
or near the entrance to Sagamore Creek, formerly in pos-
session of Andrew Sampson and Samuel Harris," also
twelve acres adjoining, "beginning at or near Thomas
Onion's fence next to the creek, thence along the creek
northeasterly to the mouth near Richard Shortridge's field
and the land of Samuel Harris and so up along the south-
ward ( ? ) side of the creek upon a southwest and by west
line by the land of Samuel Harris to a pine tree marked
four ways and from thence along northwest westerly by
the said Harris's bounds to or near a black birch stump in
the swamp, and next adjoining the land on bounds of Rob-
ert Pudnington [Purrington] and so along by his bounds
upon a southwest line nearest to the bounds of Thomas
Onion, from thence along said Onion's fence as it runneth
nearest to the creek or waterside where it began, being
about forty-five poles."

October 4, 1660, (2-440) Robert Davis, carpenter, who
was in Portsmouth in 1648, sold Edward Bickford, both of
Portsmouth, one dwelling-house together with four acres
of upland between land of Thomas Onion and land of John
Hart "in Sagamore Creek." Thomas Onion was killed in
the Indian massacre at the Plains in 1696, aged seventy-
four. Robert Davis in 1667 (2-i42a) deeded his estate to
Robert Purrington for support for life.

Mark Hunking, shipbuilder, bought land north of
Baker's Cove, eastward of Little Harbor, March 26, 1666,
(6-287.) He died the next year (Essex Antiquarian 6-134)

PIONEERS OF SAGAMORE CREEK 287

leaving widow Ann, daughter Mary, who married Thomas
Waycomb, eldest son Mark who was probably of age or
nearly so, as he subscribed for preaching in 1671, and son
Archelaus. The inventory mentions land at Little Harbor
and on a neck of land, and a ship on the stocks. Twenty
acres near William Seavey's, perhaps on Little Harbor,
were willed to Archelaus. Mark appears in the tything
men's list of 1678, apparently at Little Harbor. The
H unkings were an influential family, and intermarried with
the Wentworths. Hunking appears as a first name in
many families.

Probably the earliest road was the Pioneer road from
Odiorne's Point westward. Other roads first needed,
must have been from Little Harbor and the creek to the
Great House at Strawberry Bank and the meeting house,
which stood just east of the south mill bridge. A deed of
May 29, 1655, (2-500) mentions the highways from Lane's
sawmill to the houses near by, and that to Strawberry
Bank, meaning, I suppose, the Middle road, or the lower
part of it. It may be doubted whether it followed all the
way the present crooked route. If so, shorter cuts were
no doubt used. At the town meeting of March 12, 1671-2,
it was voted "that Mr. Henry Sherburne and Sergeant
John Moses is to lay out a foot highway from Sagamore
Creek unto the meetinghouse and to make a return thereof
to the selectmen to be recorded." Their return has not
been found on record. A footpath was in use some years
before this, and is referred to in a deed of October 26,
1667, (3-1 ia) which mentions the dwelling-house of James
Drew "standing near the common footpath that goes from
Sagamore Creek to the meeting house." The house of
John Jones, deceased, stood about forty rods east of Drew's.

* The numbers in parentheses, except when otherwise stated, refer to
volumes and pages of New Hampshire Province Deeds.

ffloxk for ^mall Mm

By Sam Walter Foss

Don't hate your neighbor if his creed

With your own doctrine fails to fit ;

The chances that you both are wrong,

You know, are well-nigh infinite.

Don't fancy, 'mid a million worlds

That fill the silent dome of night.

The gleams of all pure truth converge

Within the focus of your sight ;

For this, my friend, is not the work for you ;

So leave all this for smaller men to do.

Don't hate men when their hands are hard,

And patches make their garments whole;

A man whose clothes are spick and span

May wear big patches on his soul.

Don't hate a man because his coat

Does not conform to fashion's art ;

A man may wear a full-dress suit,

And have a ragamuffin heart.

This, my good friend, is not the work for you;

So leave all this for smaller men to do.

Hate not the men of narrow scope,

Of senses dull, whose brows recede,

Whose hearts are embryos; for you spring,

My dainty friend, from just this breed.

Be sure the years will lift them up ;

They'll toil beneath the patient sky,

And through the vista of long days

Will all come forward by and by.

Hate not these men; this is no work for you;

So leave all this for smaller men to do.

Despise not any man that lives,

Alien or neighbor, near or far;

Go out beneath the scornful stars,

And see how very small you are.

The world is large and space is high

That sweeps around our little ken;

But there's no space or time to spare

In which to hate our fellow-men.

And this, my friend, is not the work for you ;

Then leave all this for smaller men to do.

288

Granite J>tatc magazine

31 TBonihlp Publication

[Copyrighted, 1°09.J

>l. VI JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1909 Nos. 1-3

)RGE WALDO BROWNE ? Managing Editor

Terms: — Per Annum $1.50

Single Copy IS

To Authors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legend
1 those who are in possession of any incidents or narrative cf local or general interest. Any one not a regular
er, and not situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will under-
to put it into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found
railable.

Address plainly: Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,

No. 64 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

:red as second-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

Printed by The Ruemely Press <a^^> 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H.

Contents

e Post Rider. Character Sketch. No. VI. (Illustrated) 1

lRK's Independent Command at Bennington. (Portrait) . .Herbert D. Foster 5

e Battle of Bennington. (Illustrated) Dr. William O. Stillman 21

jor John Moor, The Knight of Derryfield Hon. Albert Moore Spear 29

e Return of the Fleet Editor 34

e Eagle in American History George E. Foster 35

tttsh Thrift Editor 36

rophecy Editor 36

)rge H. Brown, Mayor of Lowell. (Potrait) -.. 37

Notice to ©ur £>ub$tvibzv&

We wish to say to those subscribers who had paid in advance that
:ir subscriptions will be advanced so that they will lose nothing by the
ay in publication caused by doubling several numbers during last year.

This number has been unduly delayed, but the succeeding issue is
irly printed, and henceforth the magazine will be sent out regularly
nthly. Several new features are to be added, and we have some of
: finest articles upon important subjects that have come within our
^wledge.

The leading article in the November number, written especially for

by a competent writer, who gives the proofs of what he says, will
-er the history of the building and running of a steamboat upon the
nnecticut River several years before Fulton built his "Clermont."

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

time, with the recent celebration upon the Hudson fresh in our
and a subscription being raised to erect a quarter of a million
monument to the memory of Fulton as "the inventor of the
oat," this account is of great interest and value. It has been
ted by an artist who has studied the subject thoroughly,
tark's Independent Command at Bennington," begun in this
r, and which we believe to be the best description of that striking
jhly interesting movement, the most picturesque and important in
volution, will be finished. Other articles of no less value will

Rotes' anb Ouenes

ith our next number we add to our own the subscription list of
and Queries and Historic Magazine," published so many years
late Air. S. C. Gould. Some of the features of that entertaining
ne will be incorporated with the Granite State Magazine, so
j trust those who were among its patrons will not feel that they
st by the change.
>ok for important announcements next month.

Hiterarp Heabe£

;e pamphlets of local interest and of value to all who are seeking for information
early history of Peterborough come to us from Mr. James F. Brennan, the his-

iher of the Peterborough Historical Society, entitled respectively, "Origin of the
the Town of Peterborough, N, H.," octavo, 8 pages; ''The Irish Pioneers and

s of Peterborough, N. H., octavo, 8 pages; "Inscriptions on Gravestones in Two

eteries on the East Hill' in Peterborough, N. H.," octavo, 68 pages. Copies of

is presumed, can be obtained of the author.

:e's Corners. P>y E. Clarence Oakley. Ornamented covers, cloth, i2mo., 242
Richard G. Badger, Boston, Publisher. Price, $1. For sale in Manchester by
n.

le not what might be termed a "Wild and woolly western story of cowboy life," it
:cidedly breezy manner and is a, story worthy of a reading. The hero is a live
-, who comes into a stranded cross-roads town and immediately awakens the people
ization of his presence. The characters are well drawn and the love scer.es are
f pictured.

idsrlok L Waite,

odern Embaimer.

isonal and cartful attention
n nt nil times. Kxperienccd larly
itant. 'ieie::houe 7'-i'2 2.

.55 Hanover Street.

Manchester, N. H.

(2orns Gared

WITHOUT KNIFE

The only corn remedy made by a prac-
tical chiropdist of 20 years' experience.

15 cents

enough to cure many corns. The sur-
est and best corn cure known.

Dr. PXECLPHMERTIN, inc.

564 Washington St. Boston, Mass.

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

ers," accompanied with illustrations. Speaking of illustrative

we have a series of rare pictures, which will be given before

>nths. "Indian Traditions and Folklore" will be resumed in an

aber and continued until we have covered the subject-thoroughly.

FOR SALE

!aga?fne oi

mtxitm Sffeforp

By.MES. JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS and Mrs. MARTHA J. EAMB

Complete, except four .numbers of Vol. 1. Thirty vols., in
, 173 numbers.

Original Historical contributions by the foremost writers
>eriod covering nearly twenty years, and a variety of here-
3 unpublished letters and documents of the greatest value
ose who delight in the history of our country, as also to
nts of history.

Out of Print and Rare
The Whole Lot at a "Bargain

Inquire at office of Granite State Magazine

iBrtcHL^Walta

UliDESTHiCEB

-AND

>dern Ernbalmer.

soual and careful attention
tat all times. Kxperieiic«d lady
j(Bt. lelejilxone T-32-2.

, 55 Hanover Street.
Manchester, N. H.

(Boms Qtired

WITHOUT KNIFE

The only corn remedy made by a prac-
tical chiropdist of 20 years' experience.

15 cents

enough to cure many corns. The sur-
est and best corn cure known.

Dr. RUDOLPH MERTIN, Inc.

564 Washington St. Boston, Mass.

fn answering advertisements, please mention The Granite State Magazine.

<©ramte J>tate Iteagajme

a /^ontblp Publication

[Copyrighted, 1909. J

r l OCT.— NOV. 1909 No. 4

WALDO BROWNE Managing Editor

Terms:— Per Annum $1.50

Single Copy IS

.uthors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legend
who are in possession of any incidents or narrative of local or general interest. Any one not a regular
not situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will under-
it into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found

s plainly: Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,

64 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

second-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

ited by The Ruemely Press «^^> 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H,

Contents

untry Doctor. Character Sketch, No. VII. (Illustrated) 45

the Land of Promise A New Englander 49

d Latch-String. Old Theme Poem, No I. (Illustrated) Helen W. Clark 53

tier Heroine Rev. Grant Pozvers 55

sts in Geography . , Marvin Dana 55

Independent Command at Benningtgn"' Herbert C. Foster 57

\nd Faces. (Poem) Emory Charles Bean 72

l Joseph Cilley. (Portrait) John Scales, A. M. 73

ampshire Railroads , A Staff Contributor 81

announcements

ving to the press of other matter, the article upon the first steam-
1 this country, built by Captain Morey of Orford, has been
:d until the December number, which will be out soon. Four
tions, made expressly for this magazine will accompany the inter-
sketch, written by Gabriel Farrell, Jr.

le next issue will also contain a well-written sketch of Goshen,
with several illustrations.

January we shall begin the highly valuable series of articles
d, "In Stage Coach Days." The first number will describe "The

Granite Jkate ^aga^tne

a «ft2onthlp Publication

[Copyrighted. 1909.J

I DECEMBER, 1909 No. 5

VALDO BROWNE Managing Editor

Terms:— Per Annum $1.50

Single Copy 15

ithors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legend
ho are in possession of any incidents or narrative of local or general interest. Any one not a regular
ot situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will ur.de r-
: into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found

plainly: Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,

4 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

econd-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

ed by The Ruemely Press *3Sf£» 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H.

Contents

Rifle. Old Theme Poem, No 2. (Illustrated) 89

MTJEL Morey. (Illustrated by A. G. Gow) Gabriel Farrell, Jr. 93

(Illustrated) A. W. and W. R. Kelson 104

[THEW Clark. (Portrait. Poem) Marian Douglas 113

jd Days. (Poem) Helen Merrill Choale 116

Joseph Cilley. Chapter IV John Scales, A. £., A. M. 117

,Te is being published under the auspices of the Manchester
Association, George Waldo Browne, Managing Editor, a series of
1 the early hjstory of the Merrimack valley of vital interest to
Tson concerned in the first families of this vicinity. The series
comprises:

<ly Records of Londnderry, Windham and Derry, N. H.,
)2. A Complete and Exact Transcript of the Records of the
delating to the Political Proceedings as Recorded in Vol. i, Com-
nd Vol. 3, page i to 375, Old Town Books, with Illustrations,
with Historical Introduction, Notes and Index, by George Waldo
Substantially bound in cloth, octavo, deckle edge, gilt top,
2S. Price, $2.50.

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

ol. 2. Proprietors' Records of Londonderry, uniform with
in preparation.

ol. 3. Vital Records of Londonderry, containing clerks,
church records and graveyard inscriptions. In preparation.
S3-00.^

niform with the above in stvle and work have alreadv been issued:

ol. 1. Early Records of Derryfield, Now Manchester,
1752-1785. Edited, with Notes, Annotations and Introduction
Browne. Sent postpaid for $2.50.

ol. 2. Early Records of Derryfield, Now Manchester,
1786-1800.

ol. 3. Early Records of Manchester, Formerly Derryfield,
1801-1816.

ol. 4. Early Records of Manchester, Formerly Derryfield,
1817-1828.

ol. 5. Continuing the w r ork. In Preparation.

etal Records of Manchester, From its Earliest Settlement to

These records consist not only of the statistics of the town

but also the church records, family records and grave-yard

tions. In preparation. Price, S3. 00.

lese books are sold in sets at special prices or singly as listed.
I discounts allowed to subscribers to the Granite State
cine.

he New England Historical and Genealogical Register, edited
A.pthorp Foster, in reviewing these works says:

i public spirit displayed by this historical society in bringing out these valuable
:ords shows that they have a true conception of the duties of such an organization
useful work it may accomplish, not only for the benefit of their own township but
rical student as well.

ws and general early maps add to the entertainment furnished by the volumes,
e clearly printed on excellent paper, indexed and substantially bound in cloth.

)ld at this office, or sent postpaid.

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO.," /

. Hanover Street. Manchester, N. H

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE 111

Hitcrarp HeabcS

i of the United States and Its People, By Elroy McKendree
een volumes. Vol, IV, The Burrows Brothers Company, Publishers

ificent octavo volume of 397 pages, with its hundred of illustrations, many
Durces unknown to the general historian, fully sustains the high character
he former volumes. As the work progresses we become more impressed

task Mr. Charles W. Burrows, the projector of the work, asked of Pro-
ien he invited him to write it. The arrangement of the subject matter is
y, and Professor Avery has the happy faculty of keeping squarely abreast
lat he is describing in a manner which keeps the reader always informed
itire situation of the period as well as the particular incident that may be
sr consideration.

simple and yet has at times the eloquence at the command of Parkmair
juently enlivened with romantic and picturesque incidents, slight in them-
iving us bright glimpses of the spirit of the times not to be found in the
>rtions of historical material.

3 W, Burrows has spent twenty years in collecting the material, and the
vo volumes are lavishly adorned with reproductions of old maps, letters and
raits and pictures, many of them in colors. These illustrations are really
mt as the text. Dr. Avery is likewise giving his best years to the text,
se, discerning, interesting and exact.

covers the French and Indian War, ending with the fall of New France in
erokee and the Pontiac War, Washington, Pitt, Fox, Wolfe, Montcalm,
thorpe, Franklin and other gallant figures appear, and the volume forms an
cresting sequel to its predecessors.

)t a. dry or dull page in the whole book, which is a noble example of the liv-
t abounds in history when told by one who is able to clothe his incidents in
guage. Romance after romance is developed and the reader realizes, for
h chapters as those describing the siege of Fort William Henry by Mont-
French soldiers and Indian allies, when, after the English garrison was
ider and, in spite of the fact that the French granted honorable terms, the

in upon the hapless prisoners of war, murdering, pillaging and scalping;
War of the Resolution was not fought by untrained Americans but by men
n a land which had been harrassed by constant violence and treachery for
t was a long and bloody period from Jamestown and Plymouth Rock to

French and English fighting out in the new land, the feuds born in the old,
ntly menacing all settlers, America in Colonial days was no safe haven of
ardy bands of colonists who came from across the sea. These pre-Revolu-
e surprisingly rich in military deeds, and Dr. Avery has illuminated the neg-
l our history with a trenchant pen and many graphic descriptions.

tion's of Seventy Years, By Frank B. Sanborn of Concord. In two
:loth, gilt tops, illustrated with rare portraits, scenes and noted buildings,
Iger, publisher, Boston. - For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

iptuous volumes, written 41 a clear, vigorous style worthy of the author in
us, are among the most notable produtions of recent years. As the editor
leld Republican, The Boston Commonwealth and The Journal of Social
last of the founders of the famous Concord School of Philosophy, and as

PottsT Monarch Superiority

(\ Lightest Touch, easiest action. Greatest speed,
quickest return of typebars.

Q Back Space Key, saves time and trouble when re-
printing or making corrections.

Q Variable Line Space makes it possible to write on
ruled paper.

C| Tabulator Key, tabulates in any number of columns ;
you press the one key for any column.

Q Made with eight different widths of carriage, writing
any length of line up to 30.6 inches.

Monarch Visible Typewriters Rented

Manchester Typewriter Exchange

STATE DEALERS
Manchester, IV. H. 'Phone 580

Expert Typewriter Repairing. All Machines

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE . V

d, often the literary executor, of such men as Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott and John
Hr. Sanborn occupies a unique position and gives us in the reminiscences proba-
crowning achievement of a remarkable career — a wealth of hitherto unknown

ume I is devoted to his political life and Volume II to his literary life, the two
lg an equal interest that few can claim. In the first instance we see his associ-
ith John Brown and other anti-slavery men of that turbulent period described with
•en, and his experiences in helping to keep slavery out of Kansas and then as an
ember of the Massachusetts organization to carry out that purpose in New Eng-
make him possibly the strongest living exponent of those trying years. He writes
force and truthfulness of what he has seen and felt.

lis second volume he again enters scenes quite as familiar to him and along walks
famous, No mean member of that noted literary fraternity known as "The Con-
nool of Philosophy" of authors and philosophers, and the intimate companion
last surviving member of that fraternity make his recollections of those noted men
nen exceedingly interesting reading. In speaking of these he says: "Variety in
s the Concord spirit, exemplified in Alcott, in Emerson, and perhaps most strik-
Thoreau. . . . The neglect of fame in Concord was sometimes from pride, as in
rne, or humility, as in Emerson; or carelessness, as in Charming; but usually it pro-
rom a clear view of its unworthiness, when contrasted with the inner motive and»
if the mystic. More than any writers of their century they threw themselves at the
hat 'Love whose other name is Justice,' as Emerson said; and their serene confi-
ccasionally passing into spiritual pride, was born of this devotion to an ideal ser-
t Pantheistic, though it used the phrase of Pantheism, and as far as possible from
ern heresy of Agnostics. This is their chief claim title to a place in literary

portraits, views and fac-similes, of which there are a good number, are mostly
unpublished, or else. so long since or so privately printed that they will be new to
o see the book.

Sanborn is a native of New Hampshire and has never lost his interest in our state
e facts make his work of enhanced interest and value to our readers.

s American Indian Place and Proper Names of New England. By
ouglas-Lithgow, M. D., LL. D. An octavo volume of 400 pages, with portrait of
or. Salem Press, The Salem Press Company, Salem, Mass. Price, £5 net.

nany respects this is a work of interest and value to the student of our local his-
th-e compiler shows a wide research in the collection of his material. "While we
.t he might have delved deeper into the derivation of our Amerind nomenclature
s a long one and many hints are given relative to the meaning of local and general
Each of the New England states is treated separately, over twenty pages being
the names of rivers, ponds and localities in New Hampshire. Mr. Otis G. Ham-
ssistant editor of the State Papers, furnishes an article on "The Orthography of
impshire's Largest Lake." In this article Hr. Hammond gives one hundred and
o different ways that the word Winnepesaukee is spelled in different records
lanuscripts and papers.

iddition to the Dictionary of American Indian Names, occupying about three hun-
^es, there is a "Representative List of American Indian Proper Names Occurring
istory of New England," to us the most valuable section of the work, and a "List
'rincipal Indian Tribes, Representing the Aborigines of New England, The Princi-
ects of the American Indian Language in New England," and a "List of Abnaki

V YEARS

PYRAMI DAL
PROG* ESS

AND
•SURPLUS

****** ™

s S ^U RITV

POLICY
HOLDERS

H S3 r~i/;.j fz

fc.4Q,S^O.J7 \

3-'T,.7e3,34-

9 ; 5o9.67

3. 377, 846. 70

3.91 1.743. 34

4.069,140.67

.I54.5IO.S

1,133,546. 06

1. 193. 585. 49

1. 252, ?.67.£e»

>oks Bought, Sold and Exchanged

fe read books, we write books, we believe in books, we deal in
. We can furnish you any book you want as cheap, or cheaper,
anyone else. If you are a subscriber to the Granite State
zine, we offer special inducements.

ederick L Wallace,

UNDERTAKER

lodern Embalmer.

ersonal ;m<l careful attention
en at all times. Kxperieneed ia-.iy
igtnnt. '.telephone 732-2.

o, 55 Hanover Street.!
Manchester, N. H.

Qorns (Bared

WITHOUT KNIFE

The only corn remedy made by a prac-
tical chiropdist of 20 years' experience.

15 cents

enough to cure many corns. The sur-
est and best corn cure known.

Dr. RUDOLPH MERTIN, Inc.

564 Washington St. Boston, Mass

GRAXlTE STATE MAGAZINE Vll

in Maine and New Hampshire." The last-named list was reprinted from a
y the Hen. John G. Crawford, published a few years ago in the Manchester His-
)llections. Though no place in the work shows Dr. Douglas- Lithgow to have made
;p study of the subject, he has rendered a good service in his compilation of Indian
nd names.

w Hampshire as a Royal Province. By William Henry Fry, Ph. D. An
volume of 525 pages; price, $3. New York. Columbia University, Longmans
md Company, Agent. For sale in Manchester by Goodman. Sent from this office
e.

is excellent work covers an interesting period in history and does it in a most
; and satisfactory manner. An introductory chapter gives the history of the settle-
id desciibes the progress of affairs to 1679, when New Hampshire became a royal
;. Chapter II treats of the executive system and condition; followed by succeed-
)ters upon the legislature, the land system, finances, justice and military matters,
rrative is brought down to 1775. The material has been drawn from the sources
result is a first-hand presentation of facts concerning which it might be said there
reat amplitude of detail in >ome parts. The work on the whole has been well
d shows industry, historical insight and discriminating scholarship.

e Rolfe and Rumford Asylum, 18 52-1909, By Joseph B. Walker. Frontis-
arah Thompson, Countess of Rumford. Printed by the Rumford Printing Co.,
1, N. H. There are also a portrait of Count Rumford and three illustrations of
se, making this pamphlet of 36 pages of more than passing interesting.

ean Life in the Old Sailing Ship Days. By Capt. John D. Whidden
lumerous illustrations, i2mo. Price, Si. 50 net; postage, 15 cents. Little, Brown &
blishers Boston.' For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

scribing as it does a phase of sea life now past this book possesses more than com-
erest.

orphan at five, on shipboard r.t twelve, exposed to terrptation in every port, sub-
:> the rough usage and strict discipline of our merchant marine of sixty years ago
apprenticeship as boy, ordinary, and able seaman in the forecastle, graduating to
econd, and first olhcer with quarters in the land of knives and forks, i. e., the
ibin, and the sacred precincts of the quarter deck, ending with the command and
nership of a fine craft; in all that time his feet clear of a ship's plank but twelve
—such in brief is John D. Whidden's sea experience, covering a quarter-century,
by him in the pages of this new book.

his long service he visited many parts of the Far East, in South America, and the
ranean. He was thrown in with many types of men, and his story shows a keen
itron of human nature. The methods of the old seafaring days are here preserved
ye-witness and a participant. The human interest is strong, and the book has a
:yond that of fiction, being a personal record well worth preserving.

If a dozen dainty volumes of poetry are among the latest invoice from the Gorham
oston. These are all 121110., bound in cloth, and sell for Si each.

:estis. By Carlota Montenegro, author of v< The Two Travellers," reviewed in
ges sometime since. This is a more ambitious effort than the other, and reflects
pon the young poet. Alcestis is a beautiful play founded upon the old legend.

Risit's CENTURIARUM. The charming little volume by the Rev. James Davidson

MEXICO MEXICO MEXICO

This is no mining or stock proposition.
An American colony, free schools and no restrictions as to
gious beliefs, good comfortable homes for every one. With a guar-
eed income, will be prepared, who will accept the proposition
ired. Parties able to invest $250 to 3500 in cash or installments
. secure an investment that is guaranteed to pay 25 per cent and be
ured as to the investment as well as the guaranteed profit. Investi-
e and be assured. Agents wanted. J. Knupp. Mexico Planta-
1 Investment. Room 214 Industrial Trust Building, Providence,
ode Island.

FOR SALE

Jt§ap?mc of American ^fetorp

By Mrs. JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS and Mrs. MARTHA J. LAMB

Complete, except four numbers of Vol. 1. Thirty vols., in
,rts, 173 numbers.

Original Historical contributions by the foremost writers
a period covering nearly twenty years, and a variety of here-
fore unpublished letters and documents of the greatest value
those who delight in the history of our country, as also to
jdents of history.

Out of Print and Rare
The Whole Lot at a Bargain

Inquire at office of Granite State Magazine

Photo-Engraving, Printing,
Book Binding.

HIGHEST GRADE WORK IN ALL DEPARTMENTS.

be Rumford Press Concord, N* R

Photo-Engravers for the Granite State Magazine.

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE IX

11 of Amesbury, Mass., is a poem in fourteen chapters, covering the life of Christ.
loubtless make a strong appeal to all classes of religious people. It is an ideal
r Sunday school or church reading, and its teaching is true.

E Haunted House. By Henry Percival Spencer. Besides the poem that gives
the book there are five others of about even merit.

izaheth of Boon esf.orough and Other Poems. By Pattie French Wither
' This is a more ambitious effort and cDntains poems of varying degrees of interest-
re tjurty-four lyrics, one at least having attracted us by its merit. This is ''The
n's Creed,*' and holds some good lines.

anging Voices and Other uof.ms. By R. D. Brodie. The author of this
ok says in his opening stanza:

So many voices fill the earth around

No human can gather all the tunes,

But some one voice predominant is heard,

As the swelling notes of some sweet bird

O'erwhelm all nature's quieter runes,

That make that spot for us enchanted ground,

That 'neath their spell we hear that voice alone,

And silent others seem till that is gone.

iTEKS FROM AN OZARK Spring. By Howard L. Terry. We cannot do the
;reater justice than by quoting one of his poems:

THE LAST OAK OF SHERWOOD FOREST

"Strike me not, O, sturdy woodsman, while as yet I am not dead
Centuries have rolled beneath me since I raised on earth my head,
And I stand a lonely monarch — for my race has passed away —

• Looking on the stars at even and the busy world by day;

I have seen my comrades falling all around me, one by one.

So I ask you, leave me standing till my vital parts are run;

Then, when all my leaves have fallen, and my arms are hanging low,

And I feel no more the rain drop, or the winter's sturdy blow;

When my trunk is dry and splitting and my roots imbibe no more,
♦ Fell me, and, while I am falling, listen to my crash and roar;
With me then shall go the stories which the ages caused to be,
From the Saxon's early ages through the days of Chivalry;

When I saw the fields around me soaking oft with human blood,
Conflicts waged by greedy nations coming here from o'er the flood;
When I learned the sign of battle in the night so clear and still,
By the glimmering camp-fires burning brightly on the distant hill;

When I saw the knights in armor on their chargers ride afield,
And the hills returned the echoes when the brazen bugles pealed.
England, garden thou of warfare, nourished with the nation's blood!
All thy conflicts I have witnessed through my days of hardihood.

Nightly would the Dryads gather 'round my trunk so huge and strong,
Like the Druids 'round their altar told in story and in song;

TFe K. A. Kelly Co.

K. A. KELLY, Pres. and Treas.

A Mass. corporation, now capitalized at $30,000 all common, is about to increase the capital
k to .$50,000, and accordingly will issue 2000 shares 7 per cent Preferred Stock, at a

value of $10 each, to furnish capital for financing their rapidly increasing- business.
This Company manufactures Leather and Leather Goods, and market their pro-
ts under the trade-mark vy- rt \ The trade-mark has been advertised through-

the United States, Can- T^i ir A«akk ac j a> ant j Europe, and a rapidly growing bus-
is, both domestic and export, is the result. The keenest captains of industry never fail to
ize that the more they can eliminate or minimize competition the greater the success. There
two ways of eliminating competition— one is by combination, or trust forming; the other,
ch is the more legitimate, is by advertising a trade-mark and having its name a standard of
leby which all ether goods are judged. When a manufacturer's goods have the call he is in-
endent of all, both his competitors and dealers. All goods that are *\< n a

today an acknowledged standard, and a rapid and healthy growth tr.\;; ^- J?mark

5sured.

The new addition to their factory about to be made will give an annual capacity of £200,000

nished product, and the small conse - vative capitalization insures the 7 per cent dividend on

$20,000 preferred stock.

The safest and best paying investment that anyone can make is in preferred stock of a suc-

;ful manufacturing corporation. By investing in preferred stock the holder is guaran-

I a fixed dividend on the money invested and the net earnings of the company cannot be ap-

d on any dividends until the preferred stock is first provided for. If for any reason divi-

tls on preferred stock are passed for one period they must be paid from subsequent earnings

ull, covering all lost time, before any dividends can be taken for common stock.

Hence the holder of preferred stock has first mortgage or lien on the earnings of the company.

Any Stock That Pays 7 Per Cent Dividend for

Two Successive Years Can Readily Be

Sold At, a 20 Per Cent Rise

Anyone seeking conservative and safe investments of any amounts, with such good returns,
not afford to miss this opportunity to at least investigate the merits of this proposition.
Address all communications to K. A. Kelly, Pres. and Treas.

Main Office and Factory

leuiisce, 1M0 BfiaciiSt

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE XI

But no more I hear the bugle, nor behold the knight sublime —
They are hurled away forever on the riving axis, Time!

Then I saw the cities 'round me raise their spires high in air.
And I often said within me, 'Slowly grows the world more fair';
But, alas! when all was gaining, I was losing day by day,
From the surging, restless progress slow my comrades passed away.

Where are they? I cry, I shudder; you have robbed me, let me be!
Use your axe upon another, strike not such an aged tree!
I will hurl my limbs upon you. crush your dwelling with my breath,
In your dreams I'll fall upon you, mock your agonies of death!

If you cut a notch upon me with your tempered blade of steel,
So again I tell you, leave me, ere my warning words are real! —
Ah, he hears me, every moment, like the years his form recedes,
.While my throbbing heart within me on a glorious future feeds!"

ERY Man His CHANCE. By Matilda Woods Stone, This is an excellent West-
y told by a Western woman who knows the country about which she writes. It
:he rapid rise and fall of a new Western town aspiring to be a city. The characters
.r-cut and the romance stands out in a vivid light. Perhaps the better portion of
y of hearts is to be read between the lines. The book is published by Badger, Bos-
i the price is $1.50. For sale in Manchester by Goodman, or sent postpaid from
:e.

e Man Who Ended War. By Hollis Godfrey. Illustrated, i:mo., cloth, $1.50.
Jrown & Co., Boston. For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

is Story deals with a man who, singled handed and inspired by a dread purpose,
>d battleship after battleship, with a new and mysterious invention,
s furthermore a swinging tale of how two strong American young men and one
g American girl were caught in the strange web which moved mighty nations to
> peace.

3 scenes change from Washington to New York, to London, to Folkestone, on the
Channel, and to the dunes beyond Scheveningen and back again to America, while
ler's interest in the remarkable tale deepens with each succeeding chapter.

Liff as a Disassociated Personality, by B. C. A., touches upon a question
interest to many. This is the account of the experiences which have been men-
n some of the papers in relating the story of a person who claimed to have lived
ods under entirely different natures. Morton Prince, M. D., has written an
:tion.

Experimental Study of Sleep, by Boris Sidis, M. D., another pamphlet pub-
iy R. G. Badger, Boston, deals with the problem of philosophical and psychological
s such it possesses some suggestions for the student. The price of the first of
imphlets is 50 cents, and that of the second $1 net.

raham Lincoln's Religion, by Madison C. Peters touches upon a side in the
he martyred president that has not been made too familiar. It is divided into three
Lincoln the Man," "Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?" and "Why Did Lincoln
Join a Church?" It is published by Badger, Boston, and is well worth the price of

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

UST Irish. By Charles Battell Loomis. Cloth, i:mo„ 175 pages; price, $1.25
rd G. Badger, publisher, Boston. For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

n this work Mr. Loomis seems to be at his best, and though he has ventured upon
rous ground, he makes his trip in such a happy vein that no one can complain. He
f his experience while upon a journey through the country and among the people he
bes, and its quiet humor is both refreshing and interesting. Altogether we consider
better book than ''Cheerful Americans."

'he Trend of Scientific Thought Away From Religious Beliefes. By
Henry Oliver Ladd. Price, 75 cents. Badger, Publisher, Boston.

'his is a thought provoking little book, worthy a careful reading. Mr. Ladd has led a
interesting life. Born in 3Iaine in 1S39, after graduating from Bowdoin College and
Theological School in 1S63, he became professor of rhetoric and oratory at Olivet
*e, then principal of the New Hampshire State Normal School. Next was a long
to New Mexico, where he founded and was first president of the University of New
:o. He also founded the Romona Indian School and the United States Indian
>1 at Santa Fe. He was supervisor of the census in New Mexico 1SS9-1S90. First a
regational pastor, he entered the Episcopal ministry in 1891. For the past thirteen
Mr. Ladd has been rector to Grace Church, Jamaica, Long Island.

almost the last of Richard G. Badger's long list of fall publications and the most
le is Ibsen's Speechs and New Letters, issued with the authorization of Dr.
i Ibsen. Dr. Lee M. Hollander of the University of Michigan contributes an intro-
>n and a particularly notable feature is the chronological bibliography. That the
is sure to meet with a cordial reception is proved by the fact that practically half the
n has been sold in advance of publication — no small record for a book retailing at $3.

Ir. Badger thinks he has established another poetical record in the sale of over 5,000
> of Nancy MAClNTYREin the single month of November. It is interesting to note
(radically all of these went west of the Mississippi. "Nancy Maclntyre" is a stirring
of the praries and the author, Mr. Lester Shepard Parker of Missouri, seems to be
ihet in his own country.

"he Roman Catholic Church, and Its Relation to the Federal Government,
ancis T. Morton. An octavo volume of 257 pages, cloth, gilt top, and title cover.
% $z. Richard G. Badger, Publisher. For sale at this office, and sent post-paid.

fhe sub-title of this work indicates its character and object in a few words. Mr. Mor-
1 member of the Massachusetts bar, has made a careful study of the church and
*and he writes in a clear-cut style, without prejudice or disposition to misstate the
Of interest to every American who has the welfare of his country at heart, it can-
lil to appeal to every intelligent Catholic.

APOLOGIES for Love. By F. A Myers. i2mo., cloth, 401 pages. Price, §1.50.
ird G. Badger, The Gorham Press, Publisher, Boston. For sale in Manchester by
man.

rhe publisher claims that this is a thoroughly modern story with a basic plea that

who do not love are violators of God's law implanted in their being. By way of

luction we quote the first paragraph of the story: " 'Do you remain long in Paris

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE Xlll

iss Wadsworth?' Earl Nemo Pensive inquired, as he seated himself beside her and her
ther in the box of the theatre. His eyes like beaming lights out of shadowless abvsm
2re transfixed upon her as by magic force, and not without a calculating purpose. No one
»uld pre-determine the end of the influence begun by this initial stare upon so beautiful a
)ung lady by such a man."

The Guest at the Gate. By Miss Edith M. Thomas. Price, $1.50.

This is Miss Thomas's latest volume. Her work is generally conceded to be the finest
>etry produced by any living American — manor woman—and the new volume contains
any things that are notable even for her. Richard G. Badger now publishes all of Miss
homas's new work, "The Guest at the Gate" being the fourth volume he has issued,
tiose preceding it are "The Dancers," issued in 1902. "Cassia," issued in 1904; and "The
nildren of Christmas," issued in 1907. It is interesting to note that there is a constantly
creasing demand for Miss Thomas's work, more copies of all her books having been sold
1909 than any previous year.

The Beginnings of New York. By Mary Isabella Forsyth. List 25 cents. An
teresting description of the old city of New York and old Kingston, the first state capital.

The Automatic Capitalists, By Will Payne. List $1. a clever story of the
tiicago stock market, which attracted much attention when it had its serial publication in
e Saturday Evening Post.

The Countersign. By Claude P. Jones. Badger, Publisher. Price, $1.50.
This is a thrilling story of love and war and Eastern adventure in a new setting,
uriously enough, it is the first novel ever published whose scene is laid in Tibet, and the
>portunity which this offers for new and brilliant pictures has been fully taken advantage

by the author. "The Countersign" relates the story of an empire's downfall, and how
is compassed by the bravery and charm of an American girl whom the Tibetans believe

be a goddess. The story is full of sudden recognitions and chance encounters on which
e destiny of hundreds of thousands depends, yet after all we like it best for the strong
id healthy delineation of a great love which waives an empire to fulfill its destiny. The
ory is not lacking in humor, and has a very attractive cover and frontispiece by Elliot
een.

The Haunted House. By Henry Percival Spencer. i2mo., 49 pages. Price, $1.
idger, Publisher, Boston.

While this volume of verse is. no doubt of considerable pleasure to the author, we
ive no wish to detract from his enjoyment. Asa whole we are not particularly pleased
irselves with the leading poem, "The Haunted House," partly because it was our fortune
get somewhat nervous ourselves once over such a place, though we happily escaped
eing "a demon squiring through a knot," as this versatile poet discovered.

Elizabeth of Boonesborough, by Pattie French Witherspoon, is a poetical picture
the days of Boone, and his daughter is the heroine. There is a love thread running
rough this poem with the sharp edge of adventure dulled. There are other poems to
;lp make up the book. We have forgotten the number of pages, but that does not
atter, for who of us buys poetry by the yard? Badger is the publisher and the price is
ir at one dollar,

Skpmming the Skies. By Russell Whitcomb. i2mo., illustrated, cloth. 250 pages,
ice, $1150. Richard G. Badger, Publisner, Boston, For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

XIV GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

This is the second volume in the Comrades Courageous series and will make a wide
appeal to every wide-awake youngster interested in airships, and who is not! The story is
thoroughly up to date, full of such adventures as could readily be managed by two bright
poung Americans, clean-cut and inspiring.

Variations on an Old Theme By Johanna Pirscher. Cloth, izmo., 50 cents
let. Badger, Publisher.

This is a series of fanciful sketches that are veritable prose poems, exquisite in dic-
:ion, delicate in imagination and profound in their philosophy of life. Miss Pirscher is
lirector of modern languages at Ottawa University, Kansas.

Three Thousand Dollars. By Anna Katherine Green, author of "The Leaven-
vorth Case," and several other striking novels. This is a tasty volume of 157 pages, illus-
:rated, i:mo., cloth. Price, $2. Richard G. Badger, Publisher, Boston. For sale in Man-
:hester by Goodman.

This is the first novel to come from this author for two years, and is worthy of her
■eputation for building stories with thrilling elements and mysterious situations. The
uterest of the story is strong and the subtle mental processes of the writer are seldom so
.veil illustrated as in this book. There is a strong plot, a deep mystery, well-chosen
iescriptions and the fine art of the master story teller.

Five Cousins in California. By Gale Forest (Mrs. Robert C. Reinertsen.)
"loth, 2S7 pages, illustrated, square back, artistic covers. Price, $1.50. C. M. Clark Pub
ishing Company, Boston. For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

This is a manly story of boys' adventure in the Golden State. The story is a clear-cut
inscription of adventure, wonder-working and fun-loving scenes that come to the five
■elated by kinship, as the title suggests, "the big four and the little five." Taken alto-
gether they are a merry little band and the book is one that any parent can afford to buy
md the boy who does not have the opportunity to read it misses a rare treat.

Mary's Adventures on the Moon. By A. Stowell Worth. Illustrated, i2mo.
:loth, 75 cents. Richard G. Badger, Boston. For sale in Manchester by Goodman.

We have not got this book in hand to review it, for no sooner had our little girl, aged
;welve, caught sight of it than she immediately took possession and is buried so deeply in
ts amusing adventures that we have failed to recover it. Nor is there any likelihood that
•ve shall before she has read this new Alice in Wonderland from cover to cover, and more
han likely she will then turn back to the beginning and make the same route again.
N'othing has pleased her so much since "Heidi" captured her interest more than two
years ago.

The Autobiography of a Neukasthene, as told by one of them and recorded by
Margaret A. Cleaves, M. D. i2mo., cloth, $1.50.

This is the biography of a physician in which the actual conditions are recorded. Dr,
Cleaves is one of the most famous physicians in New York, specializing in mental and
nervous diseases. The book will make a strong appeal to both the professional and the
lay reader. ,

Granite ^tate .^|®aga?me

a jtEonthlp publication

[Copyrighted. 1909. j

II MAY, 1910 No. 10

WALDO BROWNE Managing Editor

Terms: — Per Annum $1.50

Single Copy 15

uthors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legend
who are in possession of any incidents or narrative cf ioca! or general interest. Any one not a regular
not situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will under-
it into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found

s plainly: Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,

64 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

second-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, under
the Act of Congress of Match 3, 1879.

ited by The Ruemely Press ..'-- fc 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H.

Contents

ritan. Illustrated Character Sketch Veslor of the Farms 165

Perkins Bass. (Portrait and Illustration) -/ Siaff Contributor 1G9

mesteads OF New ENGLAND. (Poem) Fred My on Colby 175

vsting Place. (Poem) Helen Merrill Choale 176

'osts and Post Riders. (Illustrated) George Waldo Browne 177

le's Coon Skin Coat. (Illustration by the Author) Stranger 185

.VER Lining. (Poem) Nelson Glazier Morton 192

vmpshire Fire Insurance Company. (Portraits) Gray Fairlee 193

itor's Window 197

Special Snnonncements

veral series of uncommon interest and value have been secured
i Granite State Magazine, and will be given as rapidly as
/ill permit. Among these will be a series of text and illustra-
ntitled—

storic and Picturesque New Hampshire. The pictures will
oductions of old and famous paintings of scenery belonging to
.te, as well as some of the best photos that can be obtained.

(Continued on page viii)

a jtBoiithlp Puliation

[Copyrighted, 1909.J

ri MAY, 1910 No. 10

WALDO BROWNE Managing Editor

Terms:— Per Annum $1.50

Single Copy 15

s plainly: Editor Gpanite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,

64 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

second-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, under
the Act of Cong'css of March 3, 1879.

ited by The Ruemely Priss <*K^» 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H,

Contents

ritan. Illustrated Character Sketch Ycs'or of the Farms 165

Perkins Bass. (Portrait and Illustration) -/ Siaff Contributor 169

mesteads OF New England. (Poem) Fred Myon Colby 175

rsTlNG Place. (Poem) Helen Merrill Choate 176

'osts and Post Riders. (Illustrated) George Waldo Browne 177

le's Coon Skin Coat. (Illustration by the Author) Stranger 185

,VER Lining. (Poem) Nelson Glazier Morton 192

\.mpshire Fire Insurance Company. (Portraits) Gray Fairlee 193

itor's Window 197

Special SCnnonntemente

veral series of uncommon interest and value have been secured
; Granite State Magazine, and will be given as rapidly as
/ill permit. Among these will be a series of text and illustra-
ititled —

storic and Picturesque New Hampshire. The pictures will
oductions of old and famous paintings of scenery belonging to
.te, as well as some of the best photos that can be obtained.

(Continued on page viii)

RUEL DURKEE

Master of Men

.-.-.. ,._.

'* " '-"■■ -. •:- - •". " ..,....;..

^5SB

.=■► ''-'..-■

••T

]

;

/ '--'V , '

' 5 ■ ^ ^ ,

■ i

■

•.

•■

' .-,,

u„\...,,. _.-.,-, . > • . ■„..,,

>£&&. .i

A Strong Story of New Hampshire Life

By GEORGE WALDO BROWNE

Author of "The Woodranger." "The Hero of the Hills," "With Rogers' Rangers," Etc.

Treating of people and scenes in the state during the closing years
of the Civil War, this romance of Real Life possesses uncommon inter-
est. It is not a political novel with a moral to teach; it has no great
public grievance to settle; but it describes scenes within the circles with
a graphic pen.

The town meeting as it was conducted a generation ago, is pictured
with wonderful fidelity to truth. The country store is the centre of
great interest, and Judge Temple's "Court of Commons" the medium of
remarkable results. The most stirring and dramatic session of the state
legislature is described with a vividness that is unbroken until the end.
The adventures of the Union soldier, hunted as a deserter, and the
fortunes of the fugitive Southern soldier lend their share to the develop-
ment of the story. A love thread runs through the book ; in fact, there is a
double thread of direct bearing upon the interest of ail-
All these are secondary to the interest that encircles the leading
character of the book, Ruel Durkee. This farmer politician, man of many-
sided influences, is treated in an impartial manner, and we see him as he
was, in his strength and in his weakness, but withal a grand figure in
the midst of trying scenes.
Illustrated, 12 mo., over 300 pages, ornamented cover. Price $1.50
RICHARD G. BADGER, Publisher, Boston, Mass.

Sent postpaid for $1.25 by
GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO.

64 HANOVER STREET, MANCHESTER, N. H.

<0ramte Jkate IMaga^tne •

a ,$3onthlj> Publication

[Copyrighted. 1^0°. j

VT* JANUARY-APRIL, 1910 Nos. 6-9

E WALDO BROWNE Managing Editor

Terms:— Per Annum $1.50

Single Copy IS

Authors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legenc

e who are in possession of any incidents or narrative of local or general interest. Any one not a regular

id not situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will under-

at it into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found

>le.

ess plainly: Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,

>. 64 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H

as second-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, undo
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

inter! by Thk Ruemely Press «sf||§a>- 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N". H.

Contents

UR du Bois. Character Sketch G. Waldo Bnnone 125

ld Crown Point Road Elon. Alvi)i S. Burbauk 12V>

xen. (Poem) I'M)

Orforo AVr. Grunt Powers HO

. Potter 77u Editor 142

PEN Roai>. (Poem) Frances E. Ealkenbury 144

OSEPH ClLI.KY • - • John Scales, A. B.. A. M. 14.',

own Bill A Monologue Dorris L. Burke 161

an Gold. (Poem) Winthrop Packard 164

^here is being published 'under the auspices of the Manchester
ric Association, George Waldo Browne, Managing Editor, a series of
on the early history of the Merrimack valley of vital interest to
person concerned in the first families of this vicinity. The series
iy comprises:

^arlv Records of Londonderry, Windham and Derrv, N. II.,
[762. A Complete and Exact Transcript of the Records of the
s Relating to the Political Proceedings as Recorded in Vol. i, Com-
and Vol. 2, page i to 375, Old Town P>ooks, with Illustrations,
d, with Historical Introduction, Notes and Index, by George Waldo
tie. Substantially bound in cloth, octavo, deckle cdg<.i, gilt top,
ages. Price, $2.50.

OFFERING OF $150,000 7 PER CENT PREFERRED STOCK OF THE

American Canned Goods Co

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY

Japital Stock $750,000 ISK^ol^ Par Value $10

FOOD COMPANIES AS INVESTMENTS

There is no more prolific source of profit than that of manufacturing and supply-
ing food products for the public. In the case of an article of quality and repute there
is no limit to the volume of trade. Food products, as such, appeal to all. both rich and
poor. They must be bought and consumed daily and hourly; if trade be good, or dull, •
or bad, there can be no diminution in the demand for these necessities of life. Conse-
quently there can be nothing more valuable or more likely to- produce immense profits
than the proprietorship of a food product, whatsoever it may be, granted only that it.
is reputable and satisfying.

How much more/then. is the opportunity for profit if, in addition to being able to
supply high-class Pure Foods, eagerly demanded, as they are, by the millions of popula-
tion daily, this pure food product is supplied in a form unique and wonderful, such as
the American Canned Goods Company's Self-Heating Can. The high quality
soups, entrees, vegetables, tea, coffee, cocoa, etc., is guaranteed by the rigid inspection
of the United States under the new Pure Food Laws. The government authorities
aave inspected and thoroughly approved both the Can and its contents.

The wonderful package which contains these food products, the Self-Heating:
Can, is a means whereby the housewife, the busy worker in factory or office, the miner,
the camper-out or the sportsman can instantly — without a fire or without even striking .
a match — produce a hot meal, satisfying, succulent and delicious with just a little
cold water. The possibilities of such an article are almost beyond comprehension.
For the Army and Navy, for Public Service Corporations: for the home, during illness.
for the thousand and one times when a hot dish is needed,, and needed quickly, the
Self-Heating Can is the only means of supply if a kitchen fire is not possible or
desirable.

Without a rival and indeed without a competitor, this article stands alone amongst
the food products of the country. Its use appeals to nearly 90,000,000, the entire popu-
lation of these United States; there is hardly a person, man or woman, who at some
time or other does not need the Self-Heating Can. Those who have already tested its
wonderful property — that of instantly providing a hot meal without c fire —
have welcomed it eagerly and enthusiastically, and it only remains for the American
Canned Goods Company to make the whoie of the country aware that such an arti-
:le is on the market and available for use, for the present factory to find its present
imple working space even too limited for its needs.

In addition to these millions of customers virtually at the company's door, must be
:onsidered the many millions more in Central and South America and in the countries
beyond the seas. The American Canned Goods Company holds practically the
svorld rights for this remarkable invention, owning twenty-one foreign patent rights cov-
ering the principal countries of the globe.

This is not a new food, a new cereal or a new coffee dependent for its success
jpon some peculiar quality or upon gigantic advertising, but it is the food we have been
;ating and drinking for years, supplied in a marvelous and novel package, the only
one of its kind on the market.

The "WONDBR" Self Heating Can. Soups and entrees heated
thout the use of fire.

An unusual opportunity for safe and profitable investment. Stocks offered at
per share. Investors in such companies as "Quaker Oats," "Postum Cereal," "Force,"
■anco American Soups now receiving from 10 per cent to 60 per cent dividends per annum

Shrewd investors are taking stock rapidly. Get yours before it is too late.

MONEY IX FOOD

MOIVBIT I 1ST POOD

What Some Well Known Food Companies Have Done

From the following brief history of what a few leading food concerns have accomplished within
the past few years, a fair estimate can be made of the value of the stGck of a successful focd
company :

Posturn Cereal Co., Battle Creek. Mich., started business in 1S95. Incorporated in 1S&6 for
$50,000. Increased their capital stock in 1901 to $5,000,000. Fronts said to be considerably over a mil-
lion dollars Jast year. No stock for sale.

Every 3100 invested in this company when it was started now represents §100,000.

This company is estimated to be worth between fifteen and twenty million dollars. Every early
stockholder has been made independent.

The Natural Food (Shredded Wheat Biscuit) Co., of Niagara Falls. N. Y., started business
only a few years ago with a capital stock of 550.000. They increased their capital a short time ago to
$10,0o0.000. Their profits estimated at 31. 200, W0 a year. Business steadily growing. No stock for sale.

Every S100 originally invested in this concern has been multiplied over a thousand times. Every
early investor made a comfortable fortune out of this stock.

The Force Food Co., of Buffalo, N. Y., incorporated in 1901; capital stock, $500,000. Estimated
profits, $100,000 a year. No stock for sale.

The Quaker Oats Co. was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey in 1901,
with an authorized capital stock of 812,000,000, 38,000,000 preferred and 34,000, CC0 common.

On August 23, 1905, the entire property of the American Cereal Co. passed into the hands of this
corporation. Their total assets are now stated at 316,460.000.

They have paid 6 per cent annual dividend on 38,000,000 of preferred stock for the past four years,
in 1908 they,retired 31.600,000 5 per cent bonds and paid 20 per cent dividends on $4,000,000 common stock.

The annual profits are estimated to be more than §2,500.000.

The Cream of Wheat Co,, Minneapolis, Minn., started in business in 1397 on less than
$25,000 capital- Erected a large new factory last year, costing more than 3100,000- Estimated profits
$50,000 per annum- No stock for sale.

Every one of their early stockholders have been made independent-

A letter from each of these concerns in answer to an application to purchase a block of their
stock states "No stock for sale. "

There are no such conditions to be found in any other commercial industry in America, and prob-
ably not in the world.

It is well known among food manufacturers that the estimated profits of these food concerns are
much below their actual earnings.

The proprietary food business stands alone as the richest field and the greatest money-maker
before the American people.'

None of these concerns possess the unique advantage possessed by the American Canned Goods
Co-, nor had they at the beginning nearly so broad a field wherein to work. These breakfast food con-
cerns have had to create their field of trade. The A merican Canned Goods Company has its trade ready
made, inasmuch as it supplies"everyday"foods,not special foods.but in a novel and remarkable package.

The field is much more promising today and millions of dollars are being spent to tell the people
about the food question. There are hundreds of concerns doing this every day, but there is only one
concern, the American Canned Goods Company, able to supply the every-day food which the public
demands, and requires, in the Self-Heating Can-

It is said by an eminent advertising authority that any proprietary food article that, happens to
strike the public taste, will return a fortune to its maker.

Every one of the above food concerns named has proven the truth of this statement.

It is credibly stated that there are hundreds of small industrial corporations throughout the
country which have paid their stockholders from 20 per cent to 40 per cent per annum, concerns that
are never heard of, because their stock is never ottered for sale. There is estimated to be a million peo-
ple in the United States, who have made themselves independent for life, by early investment in the
stock of industrial corporations.

Considering age and actual earnings, the proprietary food business stands today at the head of
all American enterprises.

The unique opportunity now pres ents itself to invest in a food company having
afield of possible trade lar ger than the largest existiny concern, controlling an ar-
ticle of universal demand, s old at a popular price and wit h possibilities of dividends
and profits not excelled, or perhaps not e qualled, by any existin g industria l
corporation.

Shrewd investors are taking stock rapidly. Gets yours before it is too late.
SEND APPLICATION WITH CHECK DIRECT TO COMPANY'S OFFICE

miWU C8MB GOODS CO., EeOiK 530, SfOCK EXCftap BniMiUfl, BDSTQH.

Factory, Jersey City, N. J. Capacity, 10,000 Cans per Day

Write for information and representative will call and demonstrate cans to you

5 -a a.

o © o ia

XCCOt

« T3 5fl

>f.SS

oooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooo

OOOCXJOOOlOOOlOO

CO NNW-NNrlrlH :M

o cr> o 9g —f

r- O ^H O .-l

o o o o © o o

o © © © o o ~

o © © ©

1/2 ©

fi-

<
z

a. v.

6 s .

5 6

"tJD "So 3

>-> S

= o

rt rj

~ : & >x rt

o a.
.2 C/2

2 ^

J§|; g

.H <-> O 2

- i '-> ="

c o -
w 1 «=c

y n jy ~ — w

rt »-« ^5

C 5

- O « —

S-. H* ^ E

c 5 5 o

Z J « rt 5 ^

U 3 6 « X

r, y

'JO

rt
u

—

a:
en
rt

>-.
-3

■j.

1-,

-c
u

£3

X £

to . - . jh

7 Z =

5 *i 55 ^ J 2

w 2 rt o "S

JL, tt, ^ Q X

o
o

£ a 2

—

._.

-x

•5

>->

—

.—

—

>:=<*-

— ~ $

^ z: — <->

^5 C«

O c

a- u rt

S 2
3 £ £

- O rS

c -5 a

to a)

> E

.5 °

O rt

i_ rt —

u 5

2 to

J3 u

■?. ^ w

- "

rt 5 >♦

■*- = "'

4) o .

35 to ;

O r: J

3 5 &

O ^

» o r

«* — «->

o b 8

III

« > v

I « .=

o E rt

>* 2 =

& "^ ~

o . S 2

k- *a o

2 *2 = w

t; o 5 a

„ 13 to "5

r to

^ CO

O i O

** c ©
« ° n

bfl

o -

ti to

>. rt

c to

rt =

cu ^

o S

~ c

ti -2

— r

- >

rt <u

o c

rt rt rt

tfl = to

c ^ _.

^2 — T3 1)

£ «

J! D J

U C X5

w jg o as

-g - 'S 2

o ^ 5 -

* J -go

en —

. = °

o ^

co — ■-'

v c

>^ T!

- *o
5 i)

w H —

— 5C s ^

O y JS o
^ S^> rt

-C rt

rt ^2
60*5

o
c

X I

t> a a h* to to

11 , GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

( Continue J from page Hi )

ie descriptions are written by ar; experienced writer. Printed upon
e best of paper with the best of ink, these articles will be worth alone
e price of the magazine. They will begin with the July number.

Stark at Bennington. Illustrated with about twenty portraits
Gen. John Stark, and nearly as many scenes and pictures relating to
5 life, by the late Henry W. Herrick and others, will prove the finest
llections ever made of this subject.

Scout Journals. These valuable papers, never before in print,
11 be continued from time to time. Besides other valuable documents
d papers, these will contain "The Battle of Lake George," by the
:>n. Samuel Blodget, with a fac simile of his plan drawn at the time.

Lovewell's Fight and the Men Who Were in It. Another
tremely valuable series by Hon. Ezra'S. Stearns. By far the most
mplete collection and account of that sanguine affair thaf has ever
en attempted, Mr. Kidder not excepted. This will be supplemented
the Legend of the the Last Council of the Amerinds, by George
aldo Browne. Illustrated.

Indian Traditions and Folklore will be continued until the
bject is fully covered. There is not a river, mountain or lake that
es not bear the memory of the Amerind, while interwoven with them
i the tales and traditions that keep alive the memory of the vanished
:e. This is the first attempt to collect and preserve in a connected
-m the fragments of unwritten folklore that linger on the borderland
history. Our illustrations are from various sources and add mate-
lly to the value and interest of the series.

New Hampshire in the French and Indian Wars. Illus-
.ted. By George Waldo Browne. This is a subject which has
:eived far too little attention from the historians of the state. Major
)gers and his hardy band of Rangers for the first time will be given
it and adequate credit for their arduous work. This series will run
rough an entire year, or two volumes.

Other articles of equal merit and interest will be given, making the
ianite State Magazine the best state magazine published. No
rson in any way interested in the state, past or present, can afford to
without it. In the years to come, as well as to-day, the owner of a
mplete set will turn to it with pleasure and satisfaction. Its value
il never be less.

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO.,
64 Hanover Street. Manchester, N. H.

SL /EJonthlp Publication

[Copyrighted. 1*0°. J

VI AUGUST, 1911 No. 11

GE WALDO BROWNE Editor

\ DANIELS Business Manager

Terms: — Per Annum $100

Single Copy 10

> Authors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legend

ose who are in possession of any incidents or narrative of local or general interest. Any one not a regular

and not situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will undeT-

put it into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found

able.

dress plainly : Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,
iO. 04 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

I as second-class matter, December 21, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, undeT
trie Act of Congress cf March 3, 1879.

Printed by The RUEMELY Press •gg^ 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H.

Contents

PICTURESQUE Land. (Illustrated) Gray Fairlee 201

• Hopkinton Arthur G. Symonds 20$

At EVENTIDE. Poem Florence Louise Bush 216

IKS IN WhiiTIER-LanD, (Illustrated) Martin IV. Hoyt 217

age-Coach Days. (Illustrated) George Waldo Br oivrie 22")

Clock Tinker. (Illustration by Frank French) .... Nestor of the Farms 233

dr's Window 237

IMPORTANT

In sending you this number of The Granite State MagazinjS
/ish to offer a few words of explanation and suggestion. Until re-
ly the entire work of editing, publishing and financiering the publi-
•n has devolved on one man. Now other men, amply qualified for
undertaking, have taken hold with him, and a complete re-organiza-
of the corporation has been effected. Mr. Joe W. Daniels, widely
favorably known, will henceforth be the business manager; Mr.
Valdo Browne will remain its editor; while the Ruemely Press will
t the magazine as heretofore.

With this working force we can not only promise to send you the
azine regularly in the future, but will make it the best of its

RUEL DURKEE

Master of Men

>... . .

A Strong Story of New Hampshire Life

By GEORGE WALDO BROWNE

Author of "The Woodranger," "The Hero of the Hills," "With Rogers' Rangers," Etc.

All these are secondary to the interest that encircles the leading
character of the book, Ruel Durkee. This farmer politician, man of many-
sided influences, is treated in an impartial manner, and we see him as he
was, in his strength and in his weakness, but withal a grand figure in
the midst of trying scenes.
Illustrated, 12 mo., over 300 pages, ornamented cover. Price $1.50
RICHARD G. BADGER, Publisher, Boston, Mass.

Sent postpaid for $1.25 by
GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO.

64 HANOVER STREET, MANCHESTER, N. H.

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE 111

tss published. This may seem like boasting, but wait and see if we do
>t keep our word. Its quality in the past is certainly indicative of
lat we can do under favorable conditions.

The subscription price hereafter will be only one dollar a year; ten
nts for a single copy. This does not mean that we intend to cheapen
e quality or lessen the quantity of the magazine, but with the increased
vertising patronage we expect to be able to do this and give you
oetter monthly.

From reports that have come to us it is evident some one has been
king subscriptions who has not sent them in to us. As fast as we learn
these parties we place their names upon our books and they will get the
agazine for the time paid. We would take this opportunity to caution
I persons from paying money to strangers on our account, unless they
ive written authority from us.

We have been through our books very carefully and adjusted the
ne of each subscription, and the date to which you are credited is
hited upon the wrapper. Please note this, and if you are in arrears
ndly remit at your convenience, so we may begin our new accounts
ith clean books as well as a clean conscience.

At this time we cannot refrain from calling your attention to some
the attractions begun in this number, and others to follow soon. The
:ries entitled "The Picturesque Land" we believe will be alone worth
ore than the price of the magazine. The illustrations will consist mainly
reproductions of famous and historic paintings, accompanied by short
^scriptive articles. The printing of these pictures will be the best work
)ne by the Ruemely Press. An article on "The Pictures and Litera-
ire of the Picturesque Land" will be given in an early number, which
ill add to the interest of the series.

"Rambles in Whittier-Land," begun in this number, was written
specially for this magazine by Mr. M. W. Hoyt, who is a Dartmouth
raduate and an author of well-known repute.

"In Stage-Coach Days" will run through this volume, relating many
iteresting incidents of the days before the steam horse and the elec*
ic car.

Among the attractions listed for early space are, ''The Indians of
ie Merrimack Valley," by Hon. John G. Crawford; "Story of the Con-
ecticut River," "Life of Col. William Stark," "Oldtime Sketches,"
Indian Traditions and Folklore," town, biographical and historical
ketches, etc., etc.

So, thanking you for past patronage, and hoping to retain it, we are,
Sincerely yours,

The Granite State Publishing Co.

THE COMPANYWITH THE PYRAMID

NewHampshire-

3,163.63005 I
3.303-575.24 r

■972. 327. 2<

Fire Insurance Co.

3.377. 645.73

.063.l40.e7

3IO. 836 19

9Q.OI7 46

3.553. 270. 70

193. 546.03

1.199.685 .49

252.207 06

.257. OSS. 25

.322 973. 14.

.578.330.82

TOTAL LIABILITIES $2,424,939.88
POLICY-HOLDERS SURPLUS $3,128,330.82

(Barrier's Rheumatic Pills

HAVE BEEN MADE AND SOLD FOR MANY YEARS

They Invariably Relieve Rheumatism and Neuralgia

CURRIER DRUG CO., Proprietors MANCHESTER, N. H.

Druggists Sell Them

WE BUY OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

MAPS AND PICTURES
In Large or Small Lots. We Pay Cash. Address

Granite State Pub, Co., 64 Hanover St., lYianchester, N. H.

OUR WONDERLAND

Not Jong since we were frequently reminded of our "abandoned
s" until it became almost a by-word, a term of reproach. Of late we
been hearing less and less. In truth one of this class has become
Dject of interest, and is eagerly sought after by many. We do not
to look far for the explanation. Abandoned farms there are yet; al-
; will be, for that matter, as long as the inevitable happens. But no
ir are they looked upon with disdain, or passed scornfully by. Their
y walls echo not to voices that are dumb, but the cheerfulness
ppy lives enliven the scene.

^Vhile revived interest, and greater promise of profit in farming, has
mich to do with the purchase and improvement of hitherto deserted
5, making the new owners permanent inhabitants, another factor
ntered the field of equal importance, perhaps paramount, because
jenefit he has given has encourged the former to enter heartily into
nterprise.

\s far as it has been able to gather statistics relating to the changed
ition, the state board of agriculture says that over three hundred
cupied farms were, purchased in 1909, and probably an even greater
)er in 1910. Many of these places Were bought with the pur-
of making them sources of profit under new systems and
:hes of agriculture. Still it is evident that a majority were obtained
the idea of improving them for places of rest and recreation during
'acation season. There were also those bought for an entirely dif-
it purpose than either of these. Particularly in the lake country,
ted homesteads and even wild lands were purchased for develop-
under modern methods of handling real estate, by dividing them
suitable lots for those who cared only for sufficient territory upon
h to build a bungalow or summer dwelling, where they could enjoy
delightful scenery, invigorating atmosphere and health-giving quali-
3f our northern wonderland. In some instances these dwellings
been built by the improvement companies, who would sell them at
^rate prices to those who cared to purchase. Thus, in many in-
es, a number of homes have been created beyond the actual num-
f original sales.

rhe same authority which we have already quoted states that the
il summer business of New Hampshire amounts to over $ 15, 000,000-
includes those who own country homes in New Hampshire and
1 from three to nine months of every year in them; those who rent
-s for the season; those who are summer guests at hotels and board-
ouses; those who spend their vacations, a week, a fortnight or a

New from Cover to Cover

WEBSTER'S
^ NEW

INTERNATIONAL
DICTIONARY

JUST ISSUED. E3.b Chief, Dr.

W. T. Harris, former U. S. Com. of Edu-
cation. General Information Practically
Doubled. Divided Page : Important Words
Above, Less Important Below. £} Contains
More m Information of Interest to More

People Than Any Other Dictionary.

2X00 PAGES. 6000 ILLUSTRATIONS.

400,000 WORDS AtfD PHRASES.

GET THE BEST in Scholarship,
Convenience, Authority, Utility.

f^£J

f%*

Write lor Specimen rages tc
G. & C. MERRIAM CO.. Publisher!. Spring field. Haw. i I
Yotj will do us a favor to mention thia publication, i j j

Frederick L Wallace,

SVIodern EmbaSmer,

Personal and careful attentioj
givenatall times. Kxperiencetl lad;
assistant. Telephone 732-2.

No, 55 Hanover Street

Prof Henry A. Fis

will reopen his

DANCING ACADEMY

at Dearborn Memorial Hall. Manchester, N".

Tuesday Evening, October 3,191

Each lesson 35 cents per night (3 houi

The Professor teaches all the latest dam
in, a rapid manner by a simple method.

Photo-Engraving, Printing,
Book Binding.

HIGHEST GRADE WORK IN ALL DEPARTMENTS.

The Rumford Press Concord, N. H

Photo-Kngravers for the Granite State Magazine.

Books Bought, Sold and Exchangee

We read books, we write books, we believe in books, we d
in books. We can furnish you any book you want as cheap,
cheaper, than anyone else. If you are a subscriber to the Gran
State Magazine, we offer special inducements.

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

VII

lonth, in New Hampshire; and the grand army of "transients," railroad
xcursionists, automobile tourists and pedestrians.

.The permanent investment of this vast array of business is esti-
lated to average not le^s than 52,000,000' annually. What a promising
Litlook lies here, with every prospect of a steady increase year by year,
lS the scenery and natural attractions of our state become more widely
nown by personal knowledge New Hampshire's fame as a place of slim-
ier resort becomes more firmly fixed in the minds of all seekers after
jst and recreation from the routine of busy days elsewhere.

LITERARY LEAVES

"Early Generations of the Founders of Old Dunstable." Ezra S,
teams, A. M., author of "-History of Rindge, N. H.," ''History oi Ash-
Lirnham, Mass.," "History of Plymouth, N. H." Octavo, cloth, 103
ages. George E. Littlefield, Publisher, Boston. Price, $3,

Showing the same pains-taking czre that Mr. Stearns usually devotes
) his work, this volume is of great value to him who is seeking informa-
on regarding the pioneers of the territory included in Old Dunstable,
le ground of more stiring history covering the earlier periods of settle-
ent in New England than probably any other section.

Let us weave the warp of finance so it will literally produce the cloth of GOLD

H. M. WHITTIER

Unlisted STOCKS and BONDS Bought and Sold

QUOTATIONS GLADLY FURNISHED

oom 11 Odd Fellows Building Manchester, N. H

Telephone 2086 W

Jmon Lmndry

F. C. CURTIS, Proprietor

Shirts, Collars and Cuffs
a Specialty

Parcels Called for and Delivered

and 56 Massabesic St. Manchester, N. H.

Telephone 1922

for business, pleas-
ure or investment.
$300.00 to $50,000.00.
Circular free, postal brings it. If you
have a farm to sell, send for descriptive
card and terms. We want agents
where we are not represented. Send
for blanks. Dept. 144.

P. F. Leland's Farm Agency

Established 1892
1 1 3 Devonshire St. Boston, Mass.

.&&

i'MlvM&g m

M^F-O

?a>-

fy?m wmrr °r-gvi e \ ^vrf^c e OM|f ,7/f

// 717

/ /

/,OJL<"

tf£

^/fraur a* vf f 1 i no pypfa^ki/wngj-Mj c kll

:.**

>^^<

/^^fA^V^w""'

«£v

Granite J>tate ^aga^tne

a jCQontblp Publication
[Copyrighted, 1909. J

Vol. VI SEPTEMBER, 1911 No. 12

3EORGE WALDO BROWNE Editor

fOE W. DANIELS Business Manager

Terms: — Per Annum $1.00

Single Copy 10

To Authors. — The editor respectfully solicits contributions relating to state history, biography and legend
rom those who are in possession of any incidents or narrative cf local or general interest. Any one not a regular
writer, and not situated to put his notes into readable form, is requested to send the rough draft and we will under-
:ake to put it into manuscript for the printer. Every article received will be carefully read and returned, if found
inavailable.

Address plainly: Editor Granite State Magazine,

GRANITE STATE PUBLISHING CO., Inc.,
No. 64 Hanover Street, Manchester, N. H.

Entered as second-class matter, December at, 1905, at the post office at Manchester, New Hampshire, under

the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

Printed by The Ruemely Press «^>»- 143 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H,

Contents*

rHE Picturesque Land. (Illustrations from Oakes' White Mountain Scenery)

, Gray Fair lee 241

N t evv Hampshire Hills. (Poem) Lucy Alice Perkins 246

Pioneers of Sagamore Creek John M. Moses 249

Rambles in Whittier Land. (Illustrated) Martin IV. Hoyt 257

[n Stage-Coach Days. (Illustrated) George Waldo Brozote 265

Character Sketch. — The Viking Nestor oj the Farms 273

The Prophet of the Pines Laconica 277

The Hermit Thrush. (Poem) Mary Bailey 280

General Joseph Cilley John Scales, A. M.

Work for Small Men. (Poem) Sam Walter Boss 288

OUR NEW VOLUME

With the next, October, number we begin Volume VII. The at-
tractions of this issue will be varied and of uncommon interest. The
illustrations for Picturesque Land will be from original paintings by J.
Warren Thyng and the text treats of the gateway to Franconia Notch.

3 rof Henry A. Fisk

will reopen his

DANCING ACADEMY

Dearborn Memorial Hall, Manchester, N. H.

Tuesday Evening, October 3, 1911

ach lesson 35 cents per night (3 hours)
The Professor teaches all the latest dances

Union Lmndry s

F. C. CURTIS, Proprietor

Shirts, Collars and Cuffs
a Specialty

Parcels Called for and Delivered

54 and 56 Massateic St. Manchester, N. H.

Telephone 1922

i a rapid manner by a simple method.

C~ AD 14/10 for business, p leas_

i M 1 ■ 1 V S o ure or investment -

1 M1IIMU $300.00 to $50,000.00.

Frederick L. Wallaoe,

UNDERTAKER

Modern Embalmer,

Personal and careful attention
\ given at all times. JLIxperienced lady
I assistant. Telephone 7ii2-2.

■ No. 55 Hanover Street.

Circular free, postal brings it. If you
have a farm to sell, send for descriptive
card and ' terms. We want agents
where we are not represented. Send
for blanks. Dept. 144.

P. F. Leland's Farm Agency

Established 1892
113 Devonshire St. Boston, Mass.

Photo-Engraving, Printing,
Book Binding.

HIGHEST GRADE WORK IN ALL DEPARTMENTS.

The Rumford Press Concord, N. H.

Photo-Engravers for the Granite State Magazine.

Books Bought, Sold and Exchanged

We read books, we write books, we believe in books, we deal
i books. We can furnish you any book you want as cheap, or
heaper, than anyone else. If you are a subscriber to the Granite
State Magazine, we offer special inducements.

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE 1

This series grows in interest with every number. In Stage-Coach Da)
reaches its fourth instalment and becomes more local in its relatioi
The third instalment of Rambles in Whittier Land will be illustrate
with a picture of the poet's homestead. "The White Feather of th
Ossipee" makes the fifth of Indian Traditions and is a typical tale c
•wild wood in the days of the aborigines. Besides there will be othc
articles of equal value, while the general make-up will be as attractiv
as usual.

Among the. attractions listed for early use are "The Indians of th
Merrimack Valley," by the Hon. John G. Crawford. With an origin;
drawing by F. Holland; "Captain Stevens' Scout Journal," edited an
annotated, with sketch of Captain Stevens, by G. W. Browne. Th
article will be accompanied by Marks' painting of "Old Number Foil
Fort;" "Life of Col. William Stark," Legend of the White Ston
Canoe, Oldtime Sketches, etc.

Reliable Employment Office

We make a specialty of Help for Private Families

Hotels, Restaurants, Boarding- Houses

Farms and Lumber Camps

Inquiries by Mail or Telephone Receive Prompt and Courteous Attention

226 TiTe Kennard, Elm St. Tel. Con. Manchester, N. H

Let us weave the warp ofjinance so it will literally produce the cloth of GOLD

H. M. WHITTIER

Unlisted STOCKS and BONDS Bought and Sold

QUOTATIONS GLADLY FURNISHED

Room 11 Odd Fellows Building Manchester, N, H

Telephone 2086 W
MTien answering advertisements mention the Granite State Magazin

THE CDMPANYWITH THE PYRAMID

NEWHAMPSHIREr

/ 3.163.630 05 [ 946.7e3.34 \ "

/ 3.303.575.24 i 972.327.26 \

Fire Insurance Co.

3 877. 646 . 70

3 9II.74J.3.

4.069. I40.C7

■4.3IO. 836 13

4.500.404 12

4,eei. I-.3.9!

5.:96,Oi7 49

193. 546. Of

193 685.49

.257. OSS. 25

I-OS.C3I. 54

.SIO.OC-a.23

5.553. 270 70

.578.330.82

TOTAL LIABILITIES $2,424,939.88
POLICY-HOLDERS SURPLUS $3,128,330.82

IBMBH, NEURALGIA, SCiATiCA MID BACKACHE

Relieved at Once by

(Barrier's Rheumatic Pilis

Druggists Sell Them Everywhere

WE BUY OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

MAPS AND PICTURES
In Large or Small Lots. We Pay Cash. Address

Granite State Pub, Co., 64 Hanover St., Manchester, N. H.

RANITE STATE MAGAZINE

DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF &CEW HAMPSHIRE

s •

- if

\ ^ AV .'

)

*2Y

l
§

tfa^i&s^^s^^ff^^ja^^js^gsjri:

DL VI

OCTOBER, 1909

OS. I'J

Note these
Points

e f se Monarch Superiority

Q Lightest Touch, easiest action. Greatest speed,
quickest return of typebars

Q Back Space Key, saves time and trouble when re-
printing or making corrections.

Q Variable Line Space makes it possible to write on
ruled paper.

Q Tabulator Key, tabulates in any number of columns ;
you press the one key for any column.

(\ Made with eight different widths of carriage, writing
any length of line up to 30.6 inches.

Monarch Visible Typewriters Rented

Manchester Typewriter Exchange

STATE DEALERS
Manchester, IV. H, * Phone 580

Expert Typewriter Repairing. All Machines

GRANITE STATE MAGAZINE

'DEVOTED TO HISTORY cAND LITERATURE

?«5S^a«SS^s«SS^a«SS^scss^a«SS^s «

ft?

■

V v

.*?

•

y/OL. VI

OCT. - NOV., 1909

Mo.

d2znTn3&&

Note these
Points of

Monarch Superiority

Q Lightest Touch, easiest action. Greatest speed,
quickest return of typebais.

Q Back Space Key, saves time and trouble when re-
printing or making corrections.

G( Variable Line Space makes it possible to write on
ruled paper.

Q Tabulator Key, tabulates in any number of columns ;
you press the one key for any column.

(J Made with eight different widths of carriage, writing
any length of line up to 30.6 inches.

Monarch Visible Typewriters Rented

Manchester Typewriter Exchange

STATE DEALERS
Manchester, N. H. 'Phone 580

Expert Typewriter Repairing. All Machines

- i ■

»•

f\ ... ,, ..•;:;■

■■-' 1 ■ [W '

•••

THE 19IO FRD

Reflectoscope Evenings of
Amusement and Instruction

[merest

nd Fi

n from start

fin

sh '

. dull mo-

ment !

( ,

LVinq

'•Re lie.:

tosc

ipe

tigs

the latest

success

home

entertainn

>et

v o u r

tnends "II!-

ustratin

, •

tions o

dra

■ in

*>e

rambled

Animals"

and with a Reflectoscope reproduce them on a screen six
feet square for the amusement of all. ( )r give an even-
ing of serious interest — an Evening of travel .^"Per-
sonally Conducted Tour" with the help of a few ordi-
nary Post Cards and a Reflectoscope lo turn them into
brilliant six-foot pictures.

TV Post Card MaQic Lantern

The Reflectoscope is no more a toy than the phono-
graph. It i- an improved magic lantern, using instead
of 'slides, 'any sort ol Post Card. Sketch, Photograph or
Clipping, "arid for the first time gives to such illustrations
a real value for personal amusement or the entertain-
ment of friends. The Reflectoscope throws on a screen

r drawing in all the brilliant coloring of the original. It
suggest themselves to every owner. Enclosed with machine

4 suggestions called

"TWICE TWELVE EVEX/XG EXTERTTil XM EXTS"

The pri< e of the Reflectoscope, handsomely japenned in Black and Red. and mounted complete ready for
use is $5.00. It is already on sale at many dealers or send the price to US and we will forward the
machine anywhere in the U. S., express prepaid. In ordering specify whether machine is wanted for gas or

a clear, six-foot :
never grows old.
or sent on reque

tproductton of such Post Card

A hundred entertainments wi

;t. is a descriptive booklet with

GLOBE GAS L13HT GO,,

79 Union Street, Boston, Mass,

- ■

■ —

. . -

32 Varieties

1 to 4 Burners

From $3.25 Up

The TINGLE LUMP is the cleanest
and simplest complete lighting
method. Rivals the conve=

nience of gas. Gosts 1=8 as
much.

The Cheapest form Of Light YettheAngle Lamp is the cheapest form of artificial
light. It is fully 1-3 to 1-2 more economical that the ordinary lamp, giving- a full 16 hours of the
finest light on a quart of oil, whereas the ordinary round wick lamp consumes the same quan-
tity in 5 to 7 hours. In this way an Angle Lamp saves its entire cost in a few months. But call
and see the lamp or write for booklet giving full details about this clean, convenient, economical
lamp. Advertise'! everywhere, on sale here.

GLOBE GAS LIGHT CO.,, 79 Union St., Boston, Mass,

RANITE STATE MAGAZINE

"DEVOTED TO HISTORY <AND LITERATURE

•».

. ~-r

■/

' £

/'3 %

V : , - ■

%» H &/

- •■_• .
• i •••

•

' '

■

1 A.

■

iN THE TWILIGHT OF THE STONE AGE"

I
I

\/OL VI JANUARY^APRIL, 1910' Nos. 6- (

New from Cover to Cover ip
WEBSTER'S JIL

new hT

ilNTERNATIONALli
! DICTIONARY

IJUSTI3SUED. Ei.h Chief, Dr, |J

I W. T. Harris, former U. S. Con. cf 2gu= I

cation. ^ General hifonaaiica Practically jj

Doubled. £3 Divided Pare: Important Wcrds j

Above, Less Important Celow. CJ Contains !

More Information of Interest to More j

People Than Any Other Dictionary.

2700 PAGES. 6000 ILLUSTRATIONS. jj
400,000 WORDS AND PHRASES.

GET THE BEST in Scholarship, jj
Convenience, Authority, Utility.

Write tor Specimen images
G.&C.KERRIAM CO., Publisher*. Springfield. Mass. ; !
You •will co us a favor to mention this publication. \)

Frederick L Wallace

UNDERTAKER

j Modern Embalmer.

Personal and careful attention
I given at all times. Experienced lady
j assistant. Telephone 732-2.

I No, 55 Hanover Street,

Book Printing

A SPECIALTY

TELEPHONE CONNECTION

No. 143 Hanover Street,

Photo-Engraving, Printing,
Book Binding.

HIGHEST GRADE WORK IN ALL DEPARTMENTS.

The Rumford Press

Concord, N* H

Photo-Engravers for the Granite State Magazine.

Books Bought, Sold and Exchanged

We read books, we write books, we believe in books, we deal
in books. We can furnish you any book you want as cheap, or
cheaper, than anyone else. If you are a subscriber to the Granite
State Magazine, we offer special inducements.

IANITE STATE MAGAZINE

"DEVOTED TO HISTORY <AND LITERATURE

Iej

■•- • ,

■' : . .'■'.. : w

•'""^' %"■:" u fy J- •■"

-' " „-,» .."-"■ > < * ■*.>-■' ?--•*■

- ^

> • % -. u--:- -

V :

.'■ ."', f" 1 '■-"'-" ■ : i

■ s

■"/ "*, ' ' .

■ - "'■-> *" .'*"-)'-.

. .-

- - 5

" -'-■- '

;

1 J

«!
9

.-•//':"■'.

Y-' -.1'*"; /"- ^ '. ^.t-- :/-"

; _._. . ...... _ ..,

[z
f*

LEADING ARTICLES §3

ROBERT PERKINS BASS * A. Sta# Contributor
THE PURITAN * ' > . Character Sketch

EARLY POSTS AND POST RIDERS, G. IFaZdo Browne
MY UNCLE'S COON SKIN COAT * Stranger
MY OLD NEW ENGLAND HOME F. M. Colby

N. H. FIRE INSURANCE CO. . Gray Fairlee

-. VI MAY, 1910 No. 10

THE ERA OF OIL

Are you willing to sit back and a little later hear of the
splendid success of the other fellow?

If not, then accept the wonderful opportunities that are
now offered in the greatest of all oil fields— those of California.

Coal yesterday was a public necessity; today a new era
is here —

THE ERA OF OIL

Yesterday was the COAL age; today we are on the ^res-
hold of the OIL age.

The amazing profits now being made by the oil companies
of Californnia far outdistances the profits of all other under-
takings.

We have spent time and money in investigating these con-
ditions, and our knowledge thus obtained has made us enthusi-
asts. When you learn the facts you will be enthusiastic also.

The field is so large, the production so certain, and the re-
sult so astonishing, that not even a wooden man could remain
unmoved.

To obtain this information, and to profit by it, get in touch
with us at once. To holders of

WILLET S. W. D.

RAWHIDE MINING MACKINAW
CHAMPION COBALT CENTRAL

SILVER LEAF EUREKA

PROVIDENCE COAL ECLIPSE OIL

and any other listed or unlisted stock, wire, telephone, write, or
better still, call on us and let us quote you a basis for exchange
into a- good, live and going California oil stock. You cannot
afford to miss this opportunity.

Don't believe that big things are out of your reach. Don't
leave it for the other fellow to reap the big man's share. Don't
be afraid of 100 percent, profit.

ACT IMMEDIATELY

Facts, figures, maps, pictures, government reports and all
possible details furnished for the asking.

IF IT'S OIL, ASK US

F.E. BANCROFT $c CO.

9 Doane St., Tel. Main 6646 Boston, Mass.

GLfc COP .

l, rill

;

.■ ■ I •. -I H

IT LOC JUGHT AS3 I

■ ■ •-.•'■- YOU ' . : L/RSELP

■

. . . . .

. V . * , . . . . » * .

■'...-■

■-■••■■

" '

& ore
. sand in

re-

CITY : t. Con.

^^:^3-- ; ^ .

2E PER ^ E V ; -

SINGLE COPY ! C ENTS

/OL. VI E if I mi Nc

■

<f "$ I \3

Til

•

v.. 7 r-s

E JS : ■ ; I -. 1 :

£(V

C-T

I ■ t\ PU ' ..; : - HAT-:'

"^ If if if

%&*

€^m®&mS32S8EBmg1K}2z

\3 : c^i;3^£m*^^^

GHT

rLL

K "i

. ] . YOURS

■■ .. I

I - ■ • '■ . : • Dver 2 . ■

1
vv:>2 '- hi L l ;iii J L-*f: homes; second— A Rai^cl and Sef« Sn-

' ' - • . -

^HE state of New Hampshire | -?|J£ want to find a thoroughly
< ■ ■'■" your ...... .-

- .

: ■ • -

de * fj that h c in tJ

; ' ■■- - i *,

row
■ - - ..:- work refi
IRQ '-■ a

C : . • . i. LOTS F !

• ■ ■ i . .< '.

!£^;^ :.:•■./.:'.:.• ^^.;^s^::u> ; ,.:-s^ ni*.;-.:-...: . ■■ ^. v^:-^^':v^.>r - v^-;^-

WT" ■ "- "■ r

r5 ; -.' , :^>, K .;

\ '

s i • , , — —

1
-

i^^.^,.'..ll :,.-':/'

..Svv' #-.*;■>/'

■•■■■
-

to-ciate i . .;ets ou ;

[

38. In

The local Bel] : him to .;•, .

and 1 . . The rig- 'dig
in touch '

: \ b i ;

■ oi ; c ;es.

NEW BiQmm TELEPHOr

A«n T^lFfipAPM- -no r^ PA MY

^^•^^^-■■■■:/---?^^^^-- '■■■■: :■:': : : e.m^:- ; my'xr'^

^^^^a^—mmm—mmmmmmm